Recent advances in metal-organic framework and derived multifunctional materials for photocatalytic applications

Photocatalysis has emerged as a highly promising approach to provide continuous and sustainable energy for addressing energy crisis and environmental-pollution issues. However, the development of photocatalysts to meet the energy demand and industrial production remains enormously challenging. Among the developed photocatalysts, metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) and MOF-derived nanomaterials exhibit excellent properties, such as high specific surface area, porosity, and tunability. In this review article, we aim to provide a comprehensive overview of the recent progress in MOFs and MOF-derived multifunctional materials to highlight their significant applications in advanced photocatalysts, including environmental remediation, hydrogen evolution, conversion of CO2 and H2O2 production. It covers fundamental principles of MOFs and modifications over the MOFs and MOF-derived materials in photocatalytic fields. Moreover, the challenges and future prospects of MOFs and MOF-derived photocatalysts are systematically analyzed and summarized. It is anticipated that the review would fill a critical gap in the rational design and exploration of MOFs and MOF-derived photocatalysts for achieving highly efficient photocatalytic applications.