Thiophene-Based Conjugated Acetylenic Polymers with Dual Active Sites for Efficient Co-Catalyst-Free Photoelectrochemical Water Reduction in Alkaline Medium
Research output: Contribution to journal › Research article › Contributed › peer-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 language | English |
---|---|
Pages (from-to) | 18876-18881 |
Number of pages | 6 |
Journal | Angewandte Chemie - International Edition |
Volume | 60 |
Issue number | 34 |
Publication status | Published - 16 Aug 2021 |
Peer-reviewed | Yes |
External IDs
PubMed | 34170591 |
---|
Keywords
ASJC Scopus subject areas
Keywords
- alkaline medium, co-catalyst-free photocathodes, conjugated polymers, dual sites, hydrogen evolution