ZIF-9(III) nanosheets synthesized in ionic liquid/ethanol mixture for efficient photocatalytic hydrogen production.

To improve the photocatalytic performance of metal-organic frameworks is of great importance. We synthesized the nanosheets of a zeolitic imidazolate framework (ZIF-9(III)) in ionic liquid/ethanol solution, with an average thickness of 4.6 nm. The as-synthesized ZIF-9(III) nanosheets have optoelectronic properties superior to the three-dimensional ZIF-9(III) synthesized by the conventional solvothermal method. The ZIF-9(III) nanosheets exhibit high activity for photocatalytic hydrogen production under visible light irradiation. The maximum hydrogen production rate can reach 112.37 mmol g -1 h -1 , while that by three-dimensional ZIF-9(III) is 29.64 mmol g -1 h -1 under the same experimental conditions.