Organic conjugated polymers and polymer dots as photocatalysts for hydrogen production

Abstract

Owing to the outstanding characteristics of tailorable electronic and optical properties, semiconducting polymers have attracted considerable attention in recent years. Among them, organic polymer dots process large breadth of potential synthetic diversity are the representative of photocatalysts for hydrogen production, which presents both an opportunity and a challenge. In this mini-review, first, the organic polymer photocatalysts were introduced. Then, recent reports on polymer dots which showed a superior photocatalytic activity and a robust stability under visible-light irradiation, for hydrogen production were summarized. Finally, challenges and outlook on using organic polymer dots-based photocatalysts from hydrogen production were discussed.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

polymer dots (Pdots) / photocatalysis / hydrogen production

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by ACS Petroleum Research Fund (PRF # 59716-DNI10).

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