Non-conventional bulk heterojunction nanoparticle photocatalysts for sacrificial hydrogen evolution from water

Mistry, Jai-Ram and McQueen, Ewan and Nudelman, Fabio and Sprick, Reiner Sebastian and Wright, Iain (2024) Non-conventional bulk heterojunction nanoparticle photocatalysts for sacrificial hydrogen evolution from water. Journal of Materials Chemistry. A, 12 (35). pp. 23411-23415. ISSN 2050-7488 (https://doi.org/10.1039/D4TA03584D)

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Abstract

Photocatalyst systems combining donor polymers with acceptor molecules have shown the highest evolution rates for sacrificial hydrogen production from water for organic systems to date. Here, new donor molecules have been designed and synthesised taking inspiration from the structure–performance relationships which have been established in the development of non-fullerene acceptors. While a conventional bulk heterojunction (BHJ) pairing consists of a donor polymer and acceptor small molecule, here we have successfully reversed this approach by using new p-type small molecules in combination with a n-type conjugated polymer to produce non-conventional BHJ (ncBHJ) nanoparticles. We have applied these ncBHJs as photocatalysts in the sacrificial hydrogen evolution from water, and the best performing heterojunction displayed high activity for sacrificial hydrogen production from water with a hydrogen evolution rate of 22 321 μmol h−1 g−1 which compares well with the state-of-the-art for conventional BHJ photocatalyst systems.

ORCID iDs

Mistry, Jai-Ram, McQueen, Ewan, Nudelman, Fabio, Sprick, Reiner Sebastian ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5389-2706 and Wright, Iain;
  • Item type:Article
    ID code:90343
    Dates:
    Date
    Event
    12 August 2024
    Published
    12 August 2024
    Published Online
    12 August 2024
    Accepted
    Subjects:Science > Chemistry
    Department:Faculty of Science > Pure and Applied Chemistry
    Depositing user: Pure Administrator
    Date deposited:23 Aug 2024 15:50
    Last modified:11 Nov 2024 14:25
    URI:https://strathprints.strath.ac.uk/id/eprint/90343
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