Exfoliation of a Two-Dimensional Metal-Organic Framework for Enhanced Photocatalytic CO 2 Reduction.

A two-dimensional metal-organic framework, FICN-12, was constructed from tris[4-(1 H -pyrazole-4-yl)phenyl]amine (H 3 TPPA) ligands and Ni 2 secondary building units. The triphenylamine moiety in the H 3 TPPA ligand readily absorbs UV-visible photons and sensitizes the Ni center to drive photocatalytic CO 2 reduction. FICN-12 can be exfoliated into monolayer and few-layer nanosheets with a "top-down" approach, which exposes more catalytic sites and increases its catalytic activity. As a result, the nanosheets (FICN-12-MONs) showed photocatalytic CO and CH 4 production rates of 121.15 and 12.17 μmol/g/h, respectively, nearly 1.4 times higher than those of bulk FICN-12.