A Novel Porous Ti-Squarate as Efficient Photocatalyst in the Overall Water Splitting Reaction under Simulated Sunlight Irradiation.

A new porous titanium(IV) squarate metal-organic framework (MOF), denoted as IEF-11, having a never reported titanium secondary building unit, is successfully synthesized and fully characterized. IEF-11 not only exhibits a permanent porosity but also an outstanding chemical stability. Further, as a consequence of combining the photoactive Ti(IV) and the electroactive squarate, IEF-11 presents relevant optoelectronic properties, applied here to the photocatalytic overall water splitting reaction. Remarkably, IEF-11 as a photocatalyst is able to produce record H2 amounts for MOF-based materials under simulated sunlight (up to 672 µmol gcatalyst in 22 h) without any activity loss during at least 10 d.