This study presents the synthesis of silver nanoparticles (Ag) coated on a graphene oxide/metal-organic framework composite (GO-MOF), where the layers were created through the electroless deposition of Ag onto GO, followed by the impregnation of Ag@GO with the MOF. Various analytical techniques, including Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and X-ray diffraction (XRD) were employed to confirm the fabricated composite (Ag@GO-MOF). The fabricated Ag@GO-MOF catalyst demonstrated outstanding photocatalytic activity for hydrogen (H 2 ) production, achieving 381.0 µmol/g/min under visible light, compared to 212.2 µmol/g/min under ultraviolet light. The photoelectrocatalytic studies revealed that the Ag@GO-MOF exhibited exceptional performance for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), with a potential of 223 mV vs RHE at 5 mA/cm² and a Tafel slope of 101.8 mV/dec under acidic conditions. The composite displayed higher H 2 production from chronoamperomtery (CA) using Faradaic’s law as compared to MOF, Ag@GO and Ag@MOF, with a rate of 48 µmol.g -1 .min -1 . The excellent HER activity of the composite was attributed to the synergistic effect between Ag@GO and MOF, along with a high electrochemically active surface area of 4.64 cm². Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) studies revealed that the inclusion of MOF in the composite improved the HER kinetics by reducing the charge transfer resistance and faster recombination of charge carriers.
Makhafola et al. (Wed,) studied this question.