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Updated: Feb 9, 2026

Development of Heterogeneous Enantioselective Catalysts using Chiral Metal-Organic Frameworks MOFs
Published on: January 17, 2020
An Efficient, Visible-Light-Driven, Hydrogen Evolution Catalyst NiS/Znx Cd1-x S Nanocrystal Derived from a
Xiuxia Zhao1, Jianrui Feng1, Jing Liu1
1Key Laboratory of Advanced Energy Material Chemistry (MOE), College of Chemistry, Nankai University, Tianjin, 300071, P. R. China.
Abstract:
Photocatalytic water splitting for hydrogen production using sustainable sunlight is a promising alternative to industrial hydrogen production. However, the scarcity of highly active, recyclable, inexpensive photocatalysts impedes the development of photocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) schemes. Herein, a metal-organic framework (MOF)-template strategy was developed to prepare non-noble metal co-catalyst/solid solution heterojunction NiS/Znx Cd1-x S with superior photocatalytic HER activity. By adjusting the doping metal concentration in MOFs, the chemical compositions and band gaps of the heterojunctions can be fine-tuned, and the light absorption capacity and photocatalytic activity were further optimized. NiS/Zn0.5 Cd0.5 S exhibits an optimal HER rate of 16.78 mmol g-1 h-1 and high stability and recyclability under visible-light irradiation (λ>420 nm). Detailed characterizations and in-depth DFT calculations reveal the relationship between the heterojunction and photocatalytic activity and confirm the importance of NiS in accelerating the water dissociation kinetics, which is a crucial factor for photocatalytic HER.
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