Construction of Zr-Metal–Organic Frameworks-Based Composite Materials toward Anhydrous Proton Conduction and Photocatalytic CO2Reduction

Metal–organic frameworks constructed from Zr usually possess excellent chemical and physical stability. Therefore, they have become attractive platforms in various fields. In this work, two families of hybrid materials based on ZrSQU have been designed and synthesized, named Im@ZrSQU and Cu@ZrSQU, respectively. Im@ZrSQU was prepared through the impregnation method and employed for proton conduction. Im@ZrSQU exhibited terrific proton conduction performance in an anhydrous environment, with the highest proton conduction value of 3.6 × 10–2S cm–1at 110 °C. In addition, Cu@ZrSQU was synthesized via the photoinduction method for the photoreduction of CO2, which successfully promoted the conversion of CO2into CO and achieved the CO generation rate of up to 12.4 μmol g–1h–1. The photocatalytic performance of Cu@ZrSQU is derived from the synergistic effect of Cu NPs and ZrSQU. Based on an in-depth study and discussion toward ZrSQU, we provide a versatile platform with applications in the field of proton conduction and photocatalysis, which will guide researchers in their further studies.