Project description:Semiconducting polymers are versatile materials for solar energy conversion and have gained popularity as photocatalysts for sunlight-driven hydrogen production. Organic polymers often contain residual metal impurities such as palladium (Pd) clusters that are formed during the polymerization reaction, and there is increasing evidence for a catalytic role of such metal clusters in polymer photocatalysts. Using transient and operando optical spectroscopy on nanoparticles of F8BT, P3HT, and the dibenzo[b,d]thiophene sulfone homopolymer P10, we demonstrate how differences in the time scale of electron transfer to Pd clusters translate into hydrogen evolution activity optima at different residual Pd concentrations. For F8BT nanoparticles with common Pd concentrations of >1000 ppm (>0.1 wt %), we find that residual Pd clusters quench photogenerated excitons via energy and electron transfer on the femto-nanosecond time scale, thus outcompeting reductive quenching. We spectroscopically identify reduced Pd clusters in our F8BT nanoparticles from the microsecond time scale onward and show that the predominant location of long-lived electrons gradually shifts to the F8BT polymer when the Pd content is lowered. While a low yield of long-lived electrons limits the hydrogen evolution activity of F8BT, P10 exhibits a substantially higher hydrogen evolution activity, which we demonstrate results from higher yields of long-lived electrons due to more efficient reductive quenching. Surprisingly, and despite the higher performance of P10, long-lived electrons reside on the P10 polymer rather than on the Pd clusters in P10 particles, even at very high Pd concentrations of 27000 ppm (2.7 wt %). In contrast, long-lived electrons in F8BT already reside on Pd clusters before the typical time scale of hydrogen evolution. This comparison shows that P10 exhibits efficient reductive quenching but slow electron transfer to residual Pd clusters, whereas the opposite is the case for F8BT. These findings suggest that the development of even more efficient polymer photocatalysts must target materials that combine both rapid reductive quenching and rapid charge transfer to a metal-based cocatalyst.
Project description:Conjugated polymers are emerging as promising organic photocatalysts for hydrogen evolution from water. However, it is still very challenging for conjugated polymers to realize highly efficient photocatalytic hydrogen evolution. Herein, we demonstrate an efficient strategy of hydrophilic side chain functionalization to boost the hydrogen evolution rates of conjugated polymers. By functionalizing conjugated polymers with hydrophilic oligo (ethylene glycol) monomethyl ether (OEG) side chains, a 90-fold improvement in hydrogen evolution rate has been achieved than that of alkyl-functionalized conjugated polymer. It is found that the OEG side chains interact robustly with Pt co-catalysts, resulting in more efficient charge transfer. Moreover, OEG side chains in conjugated polymers can adsorb H+ from water, resulting in significantly lowered energy levels on the surfaces of conjugated polymers, which enables cascade energy levels and enhances charge separation and photocatalytic performance. Our results indicate that rational side-chain engineering could facilitate the design of improved organic photocatalysts for hydrogen evolution.
Project description:Developing visible-light-active porous organic polymers with high photocatalytic efficiency is highly desirable. Here, two triazine-based conjugated microporous polymers were synthesized. The structures were controllably adjusted to explore the structure-photocatalytic activity relationship. T-CMP-1 containing more triazine units exhibited a hydrogen evolution rate of 3214.3 μmol h-1 g-1, much higher than that of T-CMP-2 (242.1 μmol h-1 g-1). The increasing contents of triazine units bring better hydrogen evolution efficiency.
Project description:The optical excitation of organic semiconductors not only generates charge-neutral electron-hole pairs (excitons), but also charge-separated polaron pairs with high yield. The microscopic mechanisms underlying this charge separation have been debated for many years. Here we use ultrafast two-dimensional electronic spectroscopy to study the dynamics of polaron pair formation in a prototypical polymer thin film on a sub-20-fs time scale. We observe multi-period peak oscillations persisting for up to about 1?ps as distinct signatures of vibronic quantum coherence at room temperature. The measured two-dimensional spectra show pronounced peak splittings revealing that the elementary optical excitations of this polymer are hybridized exciton-polaron-pairs, strongly coupled to a dominant underdamped vibrational mode. Coherent vibronic coupling induces ultrafast polaron pair formation, accelerates the charge separation dynamics and makes it insensitive to disorder. These findings open up new perspectives for tailoring light-to-current conversion in organic materials.
Project description:Divanillin was synthesized in high yield and purity using Laccase from Trametes versicolor. It was then polymerized with benzene-1,4-diamine and 2,7-diaminocarbazole to form polyazomethines. Polymerizations were performed under microwave irradiation and without transition-metal-based catalysts. These biobased conjugated polyazomethines present a broad fluorescence spectrum ranging from 400 to 600 nm. Depending on the co-monomer used, polyazomethines with molar masses of around 10 kg·mol-1 and with electronic gaps ranging from 2.66 to 2.85 eV were obtained. Furthermore, time-dependent density functional theory (TD-DFT) calculations were performed to corroborate the experimental results.
Project description:The Pt-chitosan-TiO2 charge transfer (CT) complex was synthesized via the sol-gel and impregnation method. The synthesized photocatalysts were thoroughly characterized, and their photocatalytic activity were evaluated toward H2 production through water reduction under visible-light irradiation. The effect of the preparation conditions of the photocatalysts (the degree of deacetylation of chitosan, addition amount of chitosan, and calcination temperature) on the photocatalytic activity was discussed. The optimal Pt-10%DD75-T200 showed a H2 generation rate of 280.4 μmol within 3 h. The remarkable visible-light photocatalytic activity of Pt-chitosan-TiO2 was due to the CT complex formation between chitosan and TiO2, which extended the visible-light absorption and induced the ligand-to-metal charge transfer (LMCT). The photocatalytic mechanism of Pt-chitosan-TiO2 was also investigated. This paper outlines a new and facile pathway for designing novel visible-light-driven photocatalysts that are based on TiO2 modified by polysaccharide biomass wastes that are widely found in nature.
Project description:While transport in conjugated polymers has many similarities to that in crystalline inorganic materials, several key differences reveal the unique relationship between the morphology of polymer films and the charge mobility. We develop a model that directly incorporates the molecular properties of the polymer film and correctly predicts these unique transport features. At low degree of polymerization, the increase of the mobility with the polymer chain length reveals trapping at chain ends, and saturation of the mobility at high degree of polymerization results from conformational traps within the chains. Similarly, the inverse field dependence of the mobility reveals that transport on single polymer chains is characterized by the ability of the charge to navigate around kinks and loops in the chain. These insights emphasize the connection between the polymer conformations and the transport and thereby offer a route to designing improved device morphologies through molecular design and materials processing.
Project description:Macromolecular radicals are receiving growing interest as functional materials in energy storage devices and in electronics. With the need for enhanced conductivity, researchers have turned to macromolecular radicals bearing conjugated backbones, but results thus far have yielded conjugated radical polymers that are inferior in comparison to their non-conjugated partners. The emerging explanation is that the radical unit and the conjugated backbone (both being redox active) transfer electrons between each other, essentially "quenching" conductivity or capacity. Here, the internal charge transfer process is quantified using a polythiophene loaded with 0, 25, or 100% nitroxide radicals (2,2,6,6-tetramethyl-1-piperidinyloxy [TEMPO]). Importantly, deconvolution of the cyclic voltammograms shows mixed faradaic and non-faradaic contributions that contribute to the internal charge transfer process. Further, mixed ion-electron transfer is determined for the 100% TEMPO-loaded conjugated radical polymer, from which it is estimated that one triflate anion and one propylene carbone molecule are exchanged for every electron. Although these findings indicate the reason behind their poor conductivity and capacity, they point to how these materials might be used as voltage regulators in the future.
Project description:Intrachain charge transport is unique to conjugated polymers distinct from inorganic and small molecular semiconductors and is key to achieving high-performance organic electronics. Polymer backbone planarity and thin film morphology sensitively modulate intrachain charge transport. However, simple, generic nonsynthetic approaches for tuning backbone planarity and the ensuing multiscale assembly process do not exist. We first demonstrate that printing flow is capable of planarizing the originally twisted polymer backbone to substantially increase the conjugation length. This conformation change leads to a marked morphological transition from chiral, twinned domains to achiral, highly aligned morphology, hence a fourfold increase in charge carrier mobilities. We found a surprising mechanism that flow extinguishes a lyotropic twist-bend mesophase upon backbone planarization, leading to the observed morphology and electronic structure transitions.
Project description:Photocatalytic hydrogen production using stable metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), especially the titanium-based MOFs (Ti-MOFs) as photocatalysts is one of the most promising solutions to solve the energy crisis. However, due to the high reactivity and harsh synthetic conditions, only a limited number of Ti-MOFs have been reported so far. Herein, we synthesized a new amino-functionalized Ti-MOFs, named NH2-ZSTU-2 (ZSTU stands for Zhejiang Sci-Tech University), for photocatalytic hydrogen production under visible light irradiation. The NH2-ZSTU-2 was synthesized by a facile solvothermal method, composed of 2,4,6-tri(4-carboxyphenylphenyl)-aniline (NH2-BTB) triangular linker and infinite Ti-oxo chains. The structure and photoelectrochemical properties of NH2-ZSTU-2 were fully studied by powder X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscope, nitro sorption isotherms, solid-state diffuse reflectance absorption spectra, and Mott-Schottky measurements, etc., which conclude that NH2-ZSTU-2 was favorable for photocatalytic hydrogen production. Benefitting from those structural features, NH2-ZSTU-2 showed steady hydrogen production rate under visible light irradiation with average photocatalytic H2 yields of 431.45 μmol·g-1·h-1 with triethanolamine and Pt as sacrificial agent and cocatalyst, respectively, which is almost 2.5 times higher than that of its counterpart ZSTU-2. The stability and proposed photocatalysis mechanism were also discussed. This work paves the way to design Ti-MOFs for photocatalysis.