Aggregate-forming semi-synthetic chlorophyll derivatives / Ti3C2Tx MXene hybrids for photocatalytic hydrogen evolution

Abstract

Chlorophylls (Chls) are the most abundant natural pigments having excellent opt-electrical and semi-conductive properties. Ti3C2Tx MXene, one of the most extensively studied 2D noble metal-free co-catalyst, features outstanding electrochemical properties. This work compares three aggregate-forming chlorophyll derivatives (Chl-n; n = 1–3), namely, zinc methyl 3-devinyl-3-hydroxymethyl-pyropheophorbide-a (Chl-1), zinc dodecyl 3-devinyl-3-hydroxymethyl-pyropheophorbide-a (Chl-2) and zinc dodecyl 131-deoxo-3-devinyl-131-dicyanomethylene-3-hydroxymethyl-pyropheophorbide-a (Chl-3), as light-harvesting antenna pigments in the MXene-based photocatalytic system for hydrogen evolution under the white light illumination (λ > 420 nm). The hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) of these Chls depends on the peripheral substituent groups at the C13- and/or C17-positions of the chlorin macrocyclic π-system. Differences among these Chl-n sensitized Ti3C2Tx MXene (Chl-n@Ti3C2Tx) are compared in terms of their light-harvesting ability, morphology, charge transfer efficiency and photocatalytic performance. The best HER performance is found to be as high as 122 μmol/h/gcat with the Chl-3@Ti3C2Tx composite. This work leads the direction in synthesizing Chls in Chl/MXene hybrid structure suitable for highly efficient photocatalytic HER.