Abstract
Based on insights from computational chemistry calculations, the ability of polymers to act as water splitting photocatalysts for the production of renewable hydrogen from water and sunlight is discussed. Specifically, the important role of exciton dissociation in these materials is highlighted, as well as the possible microscopic origins of the experimentally observed changes in the photocatalytic activity of a polymer with increasing chain length or changing chemical composition. The reason why water oxidation, with polymeric photocatalysts, is difficult, and which polymer properties to target when developing new polymers for water splitting photocatalysis are, finally, also discussed. image
Highlights
Photocatalysts that split water into molecular hydrogen and oxygen when illuminated are typically inorganic crystalline semiconductors,[1,2,3,4] often combined with noble metal nanoparticles as cocatalysts
Already in the 1980s, it was demonstrated that oligomers and polymers of p-phenylene under illumination with UV light could catalyze the reduction of protons to hydrogen in the presence of a sacrificial electron donor.[5,6,7]
The demonstration in 2009 that carbon nitride catalyzes both the reduction of protons in the presence of a sacrificial electron donor and the oxidation of water in the presence of a sacrificial electron acceptor[8] kick-started the field of polymeric photocatalysts in earnest
Summary
Photocatalysts that split water into molecular hydrogen and oxygen when illuminated are typically inorganic crystalline semiconductors,[1,2,3,4] often combined with noble metal nanoparticles as cocatalysts. Already in the 1980s, it was demonstrated that oligomers and polymers of p-phenylene under illumination with UV light could catalyze the reduction of protons to hydrogen in the presence of a sacrificial electron donor.[5,6,7] the demonstration in 2009 that carbon nitride catalyzes both the reduction of protons in the presence of a sacrificial electron donor and the oxidation of water in the presence of a sacrificial electron acceptor[8] kick-started the field of polymeric photocatalysts in earnest. Dave Adams.[24,29,32] We will start, with a brief introduction to the physical chemistry of photocatalytic water splitting
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