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- Title
Main-chain engineering of polymer photocatalysts with hydrophilic non-conjugated segments for visible-light-driven hydrogen evolution.
- Authors
Chang, Chih-Li; Lin, Wei-Cheng; Ting, Li-Yu; Shih, Chin-Hsuan; Chen, Shih-Yuan; Huang, Tse-Fu; Tateno, Hiroyuki; Jayakumar, Jayachandran; Jao, Wen-Yang; Tai, Chen-Wei; Chu, Che-Yi; Chen, Chin-Wen; Yu, Chi-Hua; Lu, Yu-Jung; Hu, Chi-Chang; Elewa, Ahmed M.; Mochizuki, Takehisa; Chou, Ho-Hsiu
- Abstract
Photocatalytic water splitting is attracting considerable interest because it enables the conversion of solar energy into hydrogen for use as a zero-emission fuel or chemical feedstock. Herein, we present a universal approach for inserting hydrophilic non-conjugated segments into the main-chain of conjugated polymers to produce a series of discontinuously conjugated polymer photocatalysts. Water can effectively be brought into the interior through these hydrophilic non-conjugated segments, resulting in effective water/polymer interfaces inside the bulk discontinuously conjugated polymers in both thin-film and solution. Discontinuously conjugated polymer with 10 mol% hexaethylene glycol-based hydrophilic segments achieves an apparent quantum yield of 17.82% under 460 nm monochromatic light irradiation in solution and a hydrogen evolution rate of 16.8 mmol m−2 h−1 in thin-film. Molecular dynamics simulations show a trend similar to that in experiments, corroborating that main-chain engineering increases the possibility of a water/polymer interaction. By introducing non-conjugated hydrophilic segments, the effective conjugation length is not altered, allowing discontinuously conjugated polymers to remain efficient photocatalysis. The introduction of hydrophilic segments into the main-chain of polymer photocatalysts allows water to efficiently enter the interior through these hydrophilic segments, and results in effective water/polymer interfaces for hydrogen evolution.
- Subjects
CONJUGATED polymers; MOLECULAR dynamics; PHOTOCATALYSTS; POLYMERS; MONOCHROMATIC light; ENERGY conversion
- Publication
Nature Communications, 2022, Vol 13, Issue 1, p1
- ISSN
2041-1723
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1038/s41467-022-33211-1