Hydrogen evolution at conjugated polymer nanoparticle electrodes

Abstract

Organic polymer nanoparticles have been gaining attention in photovoltaics as a means to control the morphology of polymer composite films for the purpose of studying bulk heterojunction, photoactive layers. This work investigates the preparation of nanostructured organic thin films from P3HT:PC 61 BM nanoparticles and their characterization as photoelectrodes for the photoelectrochemical reduction of hydrogen in acidic solutions. The morphology and optoelectronic properties of the nanostructured photocathodes are compared to conventional, solution-cast thin films of P3HT:PC 61 BM. The nanostructured photoelectrodes provide increased surface area compared to solution-cast films through control of the nanoscale morphology within each nanoparticle, leading to enhanced P3HT:PC 61 BM phase segregation. The photo-assisted deposition of platinum nanoparticles as hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) catalysts onto the nanostructured P3HT:PC 61 BM photocathodes facilitates the photoreduction of protons to H 2 .

Panchromatic Ternary Polymer Dots Involving Sub-Picosecond Energy and Charge Transfer for Efficient and Stable Photocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution

“… 29 − 37 Heterojunctions with donor and acceptor blending are another strategy to enhance charge separation, which has been widely studied in organic photovoltaics (OPVs). 38 , 39 However, to date, only few studies on heterojunction Pdots have been reported for hydrogen production, 32 , 40 , 41 which leaves room for exploration. Directions of interest include improving the stability for long-term use, 42 understanding the photocatalytic mechanism of heterojunction Pdots, and increasing the light absorption for more efficient sunlight conversion.…”

Organic π‐Conjugated Polymers as Photocathode Materials for Visible‐Light‐Enhanced Hydrogen and Hydrogen Peroxide Production from Water

“…[58] Cheng et al also used the 5/PCBM film on a poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):polystyrene sulfonate (PEDOT:PSS)-coated F-doped tin oxide (FTO) substrate to give the current of 45 µA cm −2 at 0 V versus RHE under Xe irradiation, and developed it with a Pt catalyst and the combination with IrO x water-oxidation counter electrode resulting in the solar-tofuel conversion efficiency of 0.12%. [59] Holdcroft et al [60] restated in their 2018 study of 5-film-based photocathodes, including its photoelectrochemical study using anthraquinone reduction as a proton-reduction model and observed hydrogen evolution on the 5/PCBM-nanoparticle film.…”

Carbon‐Based Photocathode Materials for Solar Hydrogen Production

“…[43][44][45][46] The second architecture (architecture 2) incorporates an electrocatalyst (EC) for the HER (HER-EC) into the carbon semiconductor, which acts as light absorber. [47] The HER-EC acts as a cocatalyst with the carbon-based materials by lowering the HER activation energy of the latter, which significantly enhances the electrocatalytic activity. [47][48][49][52][53][54][55][56] The electron transfer between the light absorber and the EC specifically depends on the nature of the materials as well as on their mutual chemical-physical interaction.…”

“…[47] The HER-EC acts as a cocatalyst with the carbon-based materials by lowering the HER activation energy of the latter, which significantly enhances the electrocatalytic activity. [47][48][49][52][53][54][55][56] The electron transfer between the light absorber and the EC specifically depends on the nature of the materials as well as on their mutual chemical-physical interaction. [107] Therefore, the third architecture (architecture 3) incorporates CSLs in order to improve the electron transfer from the photactive material towards the EC.…”

“…We will also analyze the latest development of efficient photocathodes, which are progressing at an impressive pace. [42,43,44,45,46,47,48,49,50,51,52,53,54,55,56,57,58,59,60,61,62,63,64] We will also highlight the key-processes ensuring proper functioning of photocathodes, as well as the main guidelines for achieving efficient and long-lasting device operation. In particular, we will discuss the functional roles of the charge-selective layers (CSLs), electron-conductive layers, and proton conductive membranes that are exploited in the photocathode architectures.…”