Rahman Mohammad, Tian Haining, Edvinsson Tomas
Department of Materials Sciences and Engineering, Division of Solid State Physics, Angstrom Laboratory, Uppsala University, Sweden.
Department of Chemistry, Division of Physical chemistry, Angstrom Laboratory, Uppsala University, Sweden.
Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2020 Sep 14;59(38):16278-16293. doi: 10.1002/anie.202002561. Epub 2020 Jul 16.
In pursuit of inexpensive and earth abundant photocatalysts for solar hydrogen production from water, conjugated polymers have shown potential to be a viable alternative to widely used inorganic counterparts. The photocatalytic performance of polymeric photocatalysts, however, is very poor in comparison to that of inorganic photocatalysts. Most of the organic photocatalysts are active in hydrogen production only when a sacrificial electron donor (SED) is added into the solution, and their high performances often rely on presence of noble metal co-catalyst (e.g. Pt). For pursuing a carbon neutral and cost-effective green hydrogen production, unassisted hydrogen production solely from water is one of the critical requirements to translate a mere bench-top research interest into the real world applications. Although this is a generic problem for both inorganic and organic types of photocatalysts, organic photocatalysts are mostly investigated in the half-reaction, and have so far shown limited success in hydrogen production from overall water-splitting. To make progress, this article exclusively discusses critical factors that are limiting the overall water-splitting in organic photocatalysts. Additionally, we also have extended the discussion to issues related to stability, accurate reporting of the hydrogen production as well as challenges to be resolved to reach 10 % STH (solar-to-hydrogen) conversion efficiency.
为了寻找用于水分解制氢的廉价且储量丰富的光催化剂，共轭聚合物已显示出成为广泛使用的无机光催化剂可行替代品的潜力。然而，与无机光催化剂相比，聚合物光催化剂的光催化性能非常差。大多数有机光催化剂仅在向溶液中添加牺牲电子供体（SED）时才具有产氢活性，并且它们的高性能通常依赖于贵金属助催化剂（例如Pt）的存在。为了实现碳中和且具有成本效益的绿色制氢，仅从水中无辅助制氢是将单纯的实验室研究兴趣转化为实际应用的关键要求之一。尽管这对于无机和有机类型的光催化剂来说都是一个普遍问题，但有机光催化剂大多是在半反应中进行研究的，并且迄今为止在全水分解制氢方面取得的成功有限。为了取得进展，本文专门讨论了限制有机光催化剂全水分解的关键因素。此外，我们还将讨论扩展到与稳定性、产氢的准确报告以及要达到10%的太阳能到氢能（STH）转换效率需要解决的挑战相关的问题。
