Non-noble nickel-modified covalent organic framework for photocatalytic hydrogen production

Covalent organic framework (COF) materials, with their remarkable conjugated systems and layered structures, have remained a research focus in the field of photocatalysis in recent years. Incorporating co-catalysts into COFs materials is regarded as a simple and effective strategy to address the serious issue of photogenerated carrier recombination faced by COF-based catalysts. In particular, noble metal co-catalysts can significantly enhance photocatalytic efficiency. However, due to the high cost of noble metals, they are not suitable for long-term and widespread applications. As a result, non-noble metal co-catalysts with low cost and excellent catalytic performance have garnered significant attention. In this study, a non-noble metal Ni-modified COF composite catalyst (Ni/COF) was successfully prepared by loading Ni-based metal salts onto the surface of β-ketoenamine COF (TAPB-Tp-COF) through in situ photodeposition method. The addition of the Ni co-catalyst significantly enhanced the catalytic performance to 0.54 mmol/g·h, which is 4.3 times that of pure TAPB-Tp-COF. This work provides a new approach for constructing economical, clean, and efficient photocatalytic systems.