Realizing high hydrogen evolution activity under visible light using narrow band gap organic photocatalysts

Abstract

Narrow band gap conjugated polymer photocatalysts containing dithieno[3,2-b:2′,3′-d]thiophene-S,S-dioxide show an attractive photocatalytic hydrogen evolution rate of 16.32 mmol h−1 g−1 under visible light irradiation.

Transition-Metal-Free Synthesis of Conjugated Microporous Polymers via Amine-Catalyzed Suzuki-Miyaura Coupling Reaction

“…Therefore, it is very potential to be a new approach for synthesis of CMPs. Among the conventional C-C coupling methods, the Suzuki-Miyaura cross-coupling reaction is important in the CMP synthesis, and has been widely adopted to construct CMPs as heterogeneous catalysts, [24][25][26][27] organic photocatalysts, [28][29] lightharvesting antenna 30 or photo-luminescent materials. 19 It is a C-C bond formation reaction via coupling an aryl-boron monomer with an aryl halide monomer, 31 which conventionally uses Pd based catalysts, i.e.…”

Structure evolution of thiophene-containing conjugated polymer photocatalysts for high-efficiency photocatalytic hydrogen production

“…Sunlight-driven water splitting technology using photocatalytic materials as media is a sustainable approach to produce hydrogen, which provides a solution to the energy shortage and environmental pollution [4,5]. Due to the pivotal role of photocatalysts in the photocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction, plenty of studies have been done to find efficient and inexpensive catalysts [6][7][8]. Compared with inorganic semiconductor materials, organic semiconductor materials recently attract more interest because of their flexible structural design, diverse synthetic strategies and tunable electronic properties [9][10][11][12][13][14].…”

“…Similar result was also observed for the polythiophene nanofibers produced from bithiophene, though an HER value of 2.19 mmol h −1 g −1 was obtained [44]. Recently, we reported a series of narrowband-gap polymer photocatalysts with the D-A type structure and high photocatalytic activity by integrating pyrene with strong electron-donating ability and dithieno[3,2-b:2',3'-d]thio-phene-S,S-dioxide with strong electron-withdrawing ability into a polymer skeleton, and a high HER of 16.32 mmol h −1 g −1 was obtained under visible light irradiation [8].…”

Exploration of the Photocatalytic Cycle for Sacrificial Hydrogen Evolution by Conjugated Polymers Containing Heteroatoms

“…Despite this, there are reports in the literature of hydrogen evolution from organic materials that contain negligible noble metals or have been synthesized in metal-free pathways. 31,32 The evolution of molecular hydrogen using polymeric photocatalysts is believed to occur with the exciton, formed through photoexcitation, driving one of the solution half-reactions and the remaining electron/hole the other. As a result of the typically large exciton binding energy in organic materials, 33 excitons, or at least excitons generated with light absorbed near the absorption onset of a material and hence with little excess energy, do not spontaneously dissociate to free electrons and holes in particles/films of conjugated polymers.…”