An Amine‐Functionalized Zirconium Metal–Organic Polyhedron Photocatalyst with High Visible‐Light Activity for Hydrogen Production

Metal–organic polyhedra (MOPs) are promising candidates for many potential applications; however, their use as photocatalysts for hydrogen production has yet to be developed. Herein, the photocatalytic performance of a water‐stable Zr‐MOP, ZrT‐1‐NH2, was evaluated, for the first time, through photocatalytic hydrogen evolution under visible‐light irradiation. ZrT‐1‐NH2 shows clearly enhanced photocatalytic activity (510.42 μmol g−1 h−1) for hydrogen production, in comparison with that of other homogeneous crystalline materials. If platinum nanoparticles were introduced into the photocatalytic system, the hydrogen production efficiency of ZrT‐1‐NH2 could be further improved. For ZrT‐1‐NH2, the conspicuous improvement in photocatalysis can be attributed to efficient electron–hole separation, targeted electron transfer, and excellent recombination suppression. Furthermore, ZrT‐1‐NH2 shows excellent stability during photocatalytic hydrogen evolution over five continuous runs. This work illustrates that MOP‐based photocatalysts hold promise for broad applications in the domain of clean energy. MOPping up light: Metal–organic polyhedra (MOPs) are promising candidates for many potential applications, but have not previously been reported to act as photocatalysts for hydrogen production. For the first time, a molecular tetrahedron, as a representative zirconium‐based MOP, is demonstrated to act as a photocatalyst with fairly high catalytic activity for hydrogen production (see figure).