Tunable Donor–Acceptor Linear Conjugated Polymers Involving Cyanostyrylthiophene Linkages for Visible-Light-Driven Hydrogen Production
Dongnai Ye,
Lei Liu,
Yujie Zhang,
Jiabin Qiu,
Zhirong Tan,
Yuqin Xing,
Shiyong Liu
Affiliations
Dongnai Ye
Jiangxi Provincial Key Laboratory of Functional Molecular Materials Chemistry, College of Materials, Metallurgical and Chemistry, Jiangxi University of Science and Technology, Ganzhou 341000, China
Lei Liu
Jiangxi Provincial Key Laboratory of Functional Molecular Materials Chemistry, College of Materials, Metallurgical and Chemistry, Jiangxi University of Science and Technology, Ganzhou 341000, China
Yujie Zhang
Jiangxi Provincial Key Laboratory of Functional Molecular Materials Chemistry, College of Materials, Metallurgical and Chemistry, Jiangxi University of Science and Technology, Ganzhou 341000, China
Jiabin Qiu
Jiangxi Provincial Key Laboratory of Functional Molecular Materials Chemistry, College of Materials, Metallurgical and Chemistry, Jiangxi University of Science and Technology, Ganzhou 341000, China
Zhirong Tan
Jiangxi Provincial Key Laboratory of Functional Molecular Materials Chemistry, College of Materials, Metallurgical and Chemistry, Jiangxi University of Science and Technology, Ganzhou 341000, China
Yuqin Xing
Jiangxi Provincial Key Laboratory of Functional Molecular Materials Chemistry, College of Materials, Metallurgical and Chemistry, Jiangxi University of Science and Technology, Ganzhou 341000, China
Shiyong Liu
Jiangxi Provincial Key Laboratory of Functional Molecular Materials Chemistry, College of Materials, Metallurgical and Chemistry, Jiangxi University of Science and Technology, Ganzhou 341000, China
In this paper, an atom- and step-economic direct C-H arylation polymerization (DArP) strategy was developed to access cyanostyrylthiophene (CST)-based donor–acceptor (D–A) conjugated polymers (CPs) used for photocatalytic hydrogen production (PHP) from water reduction. The new CST-based CPs CP1–CP5 with varied building blocks were systematically studied by X-ray single-crystal analysis, FTIR, scanning electron microscopy, UV-vis, photoluminescence, transient photocurrent response, cyclic voltammetry measurements, and a PHP test, which showed that the phenyl-cyanostyrylthiophene-based CP3 exhibits a superior hydrogen evolution rate (7.60 mmol h−1 g−1) compared to other conjugated polymers. The structure–property–performance correlation results obtained in this study will provide an important guideline for the rational design of high-performance D–A CPs for PHP applications.
