Iron-Based Metal-Organic Frameworks as Catalysts for Visible Light-Driven Water Oxidation

The development of earth‐abundant, active, and stable catalysts is important for solar energy conversion. Metal‐organic frameworks (MOFs) have been viewed as a promising class of porous materials, which may have innovative application in photocatalysis. In this paper, three types of Fe‐based MOFs and their aminofunctionalized derivatives have been fabricated and systematically studied as water oxidation catalysts (WOCs) for oxygen evolution under visible light irradiation. MIL‐101(Fe) possesses a higher current density and earlier onset potential and exhibits excellent visible light‐driven oxygen evolution activity than the other Fe‐based catalysts. It speeds up the oxygen evolution reaction rate with the higher initial turnover frequencies value of 0.10 s−1. Our study demonstrates that Fe‐based MOFs as efficient WOCs are promising candidates for photocatalytic water oxidation process. The development of efficient water oxidation catalysts is important for energy and environment fields. Metal‐organic frameworks (MOFs) present an interesting new class of catalysts, which combine porosity and tenability. MIL‐101(Fe) MOFs possess a higher current density and earlier onset potential and exhibit excellent visible‐light‐driven oxygen evolution activity than their aminofunctionalized derivatives and the other Fe‐based catalysts.