Photocatalytic overall water splitting under visible light enabled by a particulate conjugated polymer loaded with iridium

The production of hydrogen from water via solar water splitting is a potential method to overcome the intermittency of the Sun’s energy by storing it as a chemical fuel. Inorganic semiconductors have been studied extensively as photocatalysts for overall water splitting, but polymer photocatalysts are also receiving growing attention. So far, most studies involving organic polymers report hydrogen production with sacrificial electron donors, which is unsuitable for large-scale hydrogen energy production. Here we show that a linear conjugated polymer photocatalyst can be used for overall water splitting to produce stoichiometric amounts of H2 and O2. We studied a range of different metal co-catalysts in conjunction with the linear polymer photocatalyst, the homopolymer of dibenzo[b,d]thiophene sulfone (P10). Photocatalytic activity was observed for palladium/iridium oxide-loaded P10, while other co-catalysts resulted in materials that showed no activity for overall water splitting. The reaction conditions were further optimized and the overall water splitting using the IrO2-loaded P10 was found to proceed steadily for an extended period (>60 hours) after the system stabilized. These results demonstrate that conjugated polymers can act as single component photocatalytic systems for overall water splitting when loaded with suitable co-catalysts, albeit currently with low activities. Significantly, though, organic polymers can be designed to absorb a large fraction of the visible spectrum, which can be challenging with inorganic catalysts. Transient spectroscopy shows that the IrO2 co-catalyst plays an important role in the generation of the charge separated state required for water splitting, with evidence for fast hole transfer to the co-catalyst. This solid-state approach should be transferable to other polymer photocatalysts, allowing this field to move away from sacrificial hydrogen production towards overall water splitting.

Designing Phenyl Porous Organic Polymers with High-Efficiency Tetracycline Adsorption Capacity and Wide pH Adaptability

Adsorption is an effective method to remove tetracycline (TC) from water, and developing efficient and environment-friendly adsorbents is an interesting topic. Herein, a series of novel phenyl porous organic polymers (P-POPs), synthesized by one-pot polymerization of different ratios of biphenyl and triphenylbenzene under AlCl3 catalysis in CH2Cl2, was studied as a highly efficient adsorbent to removal of TC in water. Notably, the obtained POPs possessed abundant phenyl-containing functional groups, large specific surface area (1098 m2/g) with abundant microporous structure, high pore volume (0.579 cm3/g), favoring the removal of TC molecules. The maximum adsorption capacity (fitted by the Sips model) could achieve 581 mg/g, and the adsorption equilibrium is completed quickly within 1 h while obtaining excellent removal efficiency (98%). The TC adsorption process obeyed pseudo-second-order kinetics and fitted the Sips adsorption model well. Moreover, the adsorption of POPs to TC exhibited a wide range of pH (2–10) adaptability and outstanding reusability, which could be reused at least 5 times without significant changes in structure and efficiency. These results lay a theoretical foundation for the application of porous organic polymer adsorbents in antibiotic wastewater treatment.

Covalent Organic Polymers with Solid-State Dual-Color Fluorescence Tunable by Ultraviolet Irradiation

An aldol condensation-based strategy is developed for preparing covalent organic polymers (COPs) with strong solution and solid-state dual fluorescence. Moreover, the fluorescence property can be facilely tuned by two ways:...

Post-synthetic modifications in porous organic polymers for biomedical and related applications

Porous organic polymers (POPs) are prepared by crosslinked polymerization of multidimensional rigid aromatic building blocks followed by PSM depending on the application.

Porous organic polymers for electrocatalysis

The application of porous organic polymers in various electrocatalytic reactions has been systematically summarized.

Water-soluble and dispersible porous organic polymers: preparation, functions and applications

Water-solubility and dispersibility endow porous organic polymers with many valuable characteristics. This Tutorial review summarizes their preparation and diverse functions that are achieved mainly based on guest adsorption and loading in water.