Abstract
The recent discovery that metal-free polyterthiophene (PTTh) prepared by iodine-vapor-assisted polymerization (IVP) can catalyze the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) when illuminated, and this light-enhanced electrolysis expresses a non-Nernstian relation with pH, provides the foundation for further improvement of the photovoltage of the reaction by engineering the band structure of the light-absorbing polymer. Deviating from an all-thiophene backbone, using poly(1,4-di(2-thienyl))benzene (PDTB) lowers the highest occupied molecular orbital level by ≈0.3 eV compared with polythiophene, and PDTB simultaneously maintains the photoelectrocatalytic properties without an all-thiophene backbone, resulting in very high conversion rate of 600 mmol(H2) h−1 g−1 at 0 V versus the reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE) at pH 11. PDTB shows the same non-Nernstian behavior as PTTh with increasing onset potential (versus RHE) at higher pH, and the open circuit potential on PDTB under visible light reaches 1.4 V versus RHE at pH 12. The PDTB photocathode thus produces a photovoltage above the theoretical potential for the complete water-splitting (1.229 V) and is indeed able to produce hydrogen in a one-photon-per-electron light-driven water splitting setup with MnOx as the anode at a rate of 6.4 mmol h−1 gPDTB −1.
Original language | English |
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Article number | 1803286 |
Journal | Advanced Energy Materials |
Volume | 9 |
Issue number | 6 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2019 Feb 7 |
Keywords
- high pH
- hydrogen evolution
- photocathodes
- poly(1,4-di(2-thienyl))benzene
- water splitting
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment
- Materials Science(all)