Ni-Co single atomic anchored conjugated microporous polymer for high-performance photocatalytic hydrogen evolution

Yang, Chen, Cheng, Zhonghua, Divitini, Giorgio, Qian, Cheng, Hou, Bo ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9918-8223 and Liao, Yaozu 2021. Ni-Co single atomic anchored conjugated microporous polymer for high-performance photocatalytic hydrogen evolution. Journal of Materials Chemistry A: materials for energy and sustainability 9 (35) , pp. 19894-19900. 10.1039/D1TA02547C

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Abstract

The fabrication of single atomic photocatalysts via a simple pathway is a crucial challenge to enable the efficient production of hydrogen. Herein, we demonstrate a gaseous diffusion strategy to construct single atomic photocatalysts by using the intrinsic nanopore of pyridyl-functionalized conjugated microporous polymer (PCMP) to host nickel (Ni) or cobalt (Co) atoms. Comprehensive microscopy and spectroscopy characterizations were carried out to understand the morphology and structure variations of Ni or Co single atomic anchored PCMP as photocatalysts. The experimental results show that Ni or Co present as single atoms anchoring with pyridyl nitrogen, which prominently alter the electronic structures of PCMP and delocalize the charge density of the metal atom to promote proton adsorption. The outcome of the single atomic anchoring substantially reduces the energy barrier of photocatalytic water splitting. As a result, Ni or Co single atomic photocatalysts exhibit efficient hydrogen evolution performance with a rate of 1.72 mmol g-1 h -1 (AQE=2.05% at 420 nm) under visible-light irradiation beyond pure PCMP. Moreover, the photocatalysts show excellent stability with negligible decreases in the rate of hydrogen evolution upon long-term cycling (25 h). Our findings offer a rational way for the engineering of single atomic photocatalysts for energy and environment-related applications.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Physics and Astronomy
Publisher:	Royal Society of Chemistry
ISSN:	2050-7488
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	1 June 2021
Date of Acceptance:	24 May 2021
Last Modified:	07 Nov 2023 01:28
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/141686

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