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Kosco J, Bidwell M, Cha H, Martin T, Howells CT, Sachs M, Anjum DH, Gonzalez Lopez S, Zou L, Wadsworth A, Zhang W, Zhang L, Tellam J, Sougrat R, Laquai F, DeLongchamp DM, Durrant JR, McCulloch I. Enhanced photocatalytic hydrogen evolution from organic semiconductor heterojunction nanoparticles. NATURE MATERIALS 2020; 19:559-565. [PMID: 32015530 PMCID: PMC7558859 DOI: 10.1038/s41563-019-0591-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 184] [Impact Index Per Article: 46.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/17/2019] [Accepted: 12/16/2019] [Indexed: 05/21/2023]
Abstract
Photocatalysts formed from a single organic semiconductor typically suffer from inefficient intrinsic charge generation, which leads to low photocatalytic activities. We demonstrate that incorporating a heterojunction between a donor polymer (PTB7-Th) and non-fullerene acceptor (EH-IDTBR) in organic nanoparticles (NPs) can result in hydrogen evolution photocatalysts with greatly enhanced photocatalytic activity. Control of the nanomorphology of these NPs was achieved by varying the stabilizing surfactant employed during NP fabrication, converting it from a core-shell structure to an intermixed donor/acceptor blend and increasing H2 evolution by an order of magnitude. The resulting photocatalysts display an unprecedentedly high H2 evolution rate of over 60,000 µmol h-1 g-1 under 350 to 800 nm illumination, and external quantum efficiencies over 6% in the region of maximum solar photon flux.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jan Kosco
- King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), KAUST Solar Center, Physical Sciences and Engineering Division (PSE), Thuwal, Saudi Arabia.
| | - Matthew Bidwell
- Department of Chemistry and Centre for Plastic Electronics, Imperial College London, London, UK
| | - Hyojung Cha
- Department of Chemistry and Centre for Plastic Electronics, Imperial College London, London, UK
| | - Tyler Martin
- Materials Science and Engineering Division, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD, USA
| | - Calvyn T Howells
- King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), KAUST Solar Center, Physical Sciences and Engineering Division (PSE), Thuwal, Saudi Arabia
| | - Michael Sachs
- Department of Chemistry and Centre for Plastic Electronics, Imperial College London, London, UK
| | - Dalaver H Anjum
- King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), KAUST Solar Center, Physical Sciences and Engineering Division (PSE), Thuwal, Saudi Arabia
| | - Sandra Gonzalez Lopez
- King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), KAUST Solar Center, Physical Sciences and Engineering Division (PSE), Thuwal, Saudi Arabia
| | - Lingyu Zou
- Department of Chemistry and Centre for Plastic Electronics, Imperial College London, London, UK
| | - Andrew Wadsworth
- Department of Chemistry and Centre for Plastic Electronics, Imperial College London, London, UK
| | - Weimin Zhang
- King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), KAUST Solar Center, Physical Sciences and Engineering Division (PSE), Thuwal, Saudi Arabia
| | - Lisheng Zhang
- King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), KAUST Solar Center, Physical Sciences and Engineering Division (PSE), Thuwal, Saudi Arabia
| | - James Tellam
- ISIS, STFC, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Chilton, UK
| | - Rachid Sougrat
- King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), KAUST Solar Center, Physical Sciences and Engineering Division (PSE), Thuwal, Saudi Arabia
| | - Frédéric Laquai
- King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), KAUST Solar Center, Physical Sciences and Engineering Division (PSE), Thuwal, Saudi Arabia
| | - Dean M DeLongchamp
- Materials Science and Engineering Division, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD, USA
| | - James R Durrant
- Department of Chemistry and Centre for Plastic Electronics, Imperial College London, London, UK
| | - Iain McCulloch
- King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), KAUST Solar Center, Physical Sciences and Engineering Division (PSE), Thuwal, Saudi Arabia.
- Department of Chemistry and Centre for Plastic Electronics, Imperial College London, London, UK.
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