Structure evolution of thiophene-containing conjugated polymer photocatalysts for high-efficiency photocatalytic hydrogen production

Conjugated polymer photocatalysts have received extensive attention in the field of photocatalytic hydrogen evolution owing to their tunable molecular structures and electronic properties. Herein, we developed three donor-acceptor (D-A) type thiophene-containing narrow-band-gap conjugated polymers with pyrene as a donor different fused-thiophene derivatives acceptors via direct C-H arylation coupling polymerization. It was found that band gap can be tuned by adjusting number rings. The visible light absorption range extended increasing thiophene rings, planar structure for both acceptor units facilitates charge transmission along skeleton, D-A promotes dissociation photo-induced electrons holes. As result, high rate 33.07 mmolh−1 g−1 obtained PyTP-2 an optimized under irradiation (λ > 420 nm) without aid Pt co-catalyst. In addition, also shows activity oxygen average 58.37 µmolh−1 g−1.