Metal-Organic Framework Templated Synthesis of Fe₂O₃/TiO₂ Nanocomposite for Hydrogen Production

A new metal-organic framework (MOF)-templated method has been developed for the synthesis of a metal oxide nanocomposite with interesting photophysical properties. Fe-containing nanoscale MOFs are coated with amorphous titania, then calcined to produce crystalline Fe₂O₃/TiO₂ composite nanoparticles. This material enables photocatalytic hydrogen production from water using visible light, which cannot be achieved by either Fe₂O₃ or TiO₂ alone or a mixture of the two.