In:
Nature Communications, Springer Science and Business Media LLC, Vol. 13, No. 1 ( 2022-09-17)
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.
Type of Medium:
Online Resource
ISSN:
2041-1723
DOI:
10.1038/s41467-022-33211-1
Language:
English
Publisher:
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Publication Date:
2022
detail.hit.zdb_id:
2553671-0