Thiophene-Based Conjugated Acetylenic Polymers with Dual Active Sites for Efficient Co-Catalyst-Free Photoelectrochemical Water Reduction in Alkaline Medium

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Contributors

Abstract

Although being attractive materials for photoelectrochemical hydrogen evolution reaction (PEC HER) under neutral or acidic conditions, conjugated polymers still show poor PEC HER performance in alkaline medium due to the lack of water dissociation sites. Herein, we demonstrate that tailoring the polymer skeleton from poly(diethynylthieno[3,2-b]thiophene) (pDET) to poly(2,6-diethynylbenzo[1,2-b:4,5-b′]dithiophene (pBDT) and poly(diethynyldithieno[3,2-b:2′,3′-d]thiophene) (pDTT) in conjugated acetylenic polymers (CAPs) introduces highly efficient active sites for water dissociation. As a result, pDTT and pBDT, grown on Cu substrate, demonstrate benchmark photocurrent densities of 170 μA cm−2 and 120 μA cm−2 (at 0.3 V vs. RHE; pH 13), which are 4.2 and 3 times higher than that of pDET, respectively. Moreover, by combining DFT calculations and electrochemical operando resonance Raman spectroscopy, we propose that the electron-enriched Cβ of the outer thiophene rings of pDTT are the water dissociation active sites, while the −C≡C− bonds function as the active sites for hydrogen evolution.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)18876-18881
Number of pages6
JournalAngewandte Chemie - International Edition
Volume60
Issue number34
Publication statusPublished - 16 Aug 2021
Peer-reviewedYes

External IDs

PubMed 34170591

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Keywords

  • alkaline medium, co-catalyst-free photocathodes, conjugated polymers, dual sites, hydrogen evolution