Synthesis of mixed-ligand two-dimensional zeolite imidazole framework (ZIF-L) via water-assisted strategy for enhanced photocatalytic hydrogen evolution

Metal organic frameworks (MOFs) are regarded as the promising potential photocatalytic materials because of its high specific surface area , regular morphology and highly adjustable structure. Herein, introducing different addition percentage of 1-vinylimidazole to two-dimensional zeolite imidazole framework (ZIF-L) with leaf-shaped morphology was successfully prepared via water-assisted strategy and applied in the photocatalytic hydrogen evolution experiments. The results indicate that VZ-12 shows the highest photocatalytic activity with hydrogen production rate of 162.7 μmol g −1  h −1 , which is 3 times than that in VZ-0 (pure ZIF-L, 56.33 μmol g −1  h −1 ) under simulated sunlight. The enhanced performance is ascribed to the increased specific surface area observed via BET, narrow band gap ( E g ) explored through UV–vis DRS and decreased recombination of photo-generated charge carriers measured by photoluminescence (PL). In a word, the effort of our study provides a new idea for developing and fabricating efficient hydrogen production photocatalyst via water splitting.