A Full-Spectrum Porphyrin-Fullerene D-A Supramolecular Photocatalyst with Giant Built-In Electric Field for Efficient Hydrogen Production.

Yang, Jun; Jing, Jianfang; Zhu, Yongfa · Adv Mater · 2021

basic_science · Level V

Where this comes from

Abstract

A full-spectrum (300-850 nm) responsive donor-acceptor (D-A) supramolecular photocatalyst tetraphenylporphinesulfonate/fullerene (TPPS/C<sub>60</sub> ) is successfully constructed. The theoretical spectral efficiency of TPPS/C<sub>60</sub> is as high as 70%, offering the possibility of full-solar-spectrum light harvesting. The TPPS/C<sub>60</sub> performs a highly efficient photocatalytic H<sub>2</sub> evolution rate of 276.55 µmol h<sup>-1</sup> (34.57 mmol g<sup>-1</sup> h<sup>-1</sup> ), surpassing many reported organic photocatalysts. The D-A structure effectively promotes electron transfer from TPPS to C<sub>60</sub> , which is beneficial to the photocatalytic reaction. Specifically, a giant internal electric field in the D-A structure is built via the enhanced molecular dipole, which dramatically promotes the charge separation (CS) efficiency by 2.35 times. Transient absorption spectra results show a long-lived CS state TPPS<sup>•+</sup> -C<sub>60</sub> <sup>•-</sup> in the D-A structure, which effectively promotes participation of photogenerated electrons in the reduction reaction. Briefly, this work provides a novel approach for designing high-performance photocatalytic materials via enhancing the interfacial electric field.