Photocatalytic Hydrogen Production Coupled with Selective Benzylamine Oxidation over MOF Composites.

Photocatalytic water splitting requires separation of the mixed H2 and O2 products and is often hampered by the sluggish O2 -producing half reaction. An approach is now reported to address these issues by coupling the H2 -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 H2 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.