Localized ultrafine Cu clusters within MOF-derived metal oxides for collective photochemical and photothermal H2 generation

The ability to prepare ultrafine metal cluster (UMC) in supported catalysts, which exhibit extraordinary physical and chemical properties offers exciting opportunities to tailoring catalytic performance. However, the fabrication of singly-dispersed metal cluster catalysts that are both catalytic stable and active remains challenging. In this work, ultrafine Cu clusters has been spatially immobilized within the MOF derived photocatalyst matrix to realize a unitary photocatalyst with high density and stable active sites for charge separation and photothermal co-functions. Furthermore, the embedded Cu is capable of overcoming challenges related to porous structure collapse, disparate material interfaces and incompatibility between light absorption and charge transfer processes. Resultantly, the photocatalyst (m-TiO2/Cu) exhibits a high and stable H2 generation rate of 17.8 mmolg-1h-1 that is ~69 times higher compared to the control. In essence, this study presents an efficient approach to immobilize ultrafine metal active sites for the development of high-performance heterogeneous catalysts for energy applications.