Photocatalytic Hydrogen Production Coupled with Selective Benzylamine Oxidation over MOF Composites

Photocatalytic water splitting requires separation of the mixed H-2 and O-2 products and is often hampered by the sluggish O-2-producing half reaction. An approach is now reported to address these issues by coupling the H-2-producing half reaction with value-added benzylamine oxidation reaction using metal-organic framework (MOF) composites. Upon MOF photoexcitation, the electrons rapidly reduce the protons to generate H-2 and the holes promote considerable benzylamine oxidation to N-benzylbenzaldimine with high selectivity. Further experimental characterizations and theoretical calculation reveal that the highly conjugated s-triazine strut in the MOF structure is crucial to the efficient charge separation and excellent photocatalytic activity.