用于光催化全解水的二维高分子材料研究进展

Recent Progress in Developing Two-Dimensional Polymers for Photocatalytic Overall Water Splitting

通过仿生光合作用将太阳能转化为可储存、可运输的化学燃料是解决全球能源危机和环境问题的有效途径之一。高分子半导体因其电子结构可以简单地从分子水平上进行调控和设计,近几年来在光催化领域展现出广阔的应用前景。由于具有二维平面结构的共轭高分子半导体具有大的比表面积、丰富的表面活性位点和高效的光生电子/空穴分离能力,并且可以方便地形成异质结构等独特的性质,其在光催化分解水领域的应用逐渐引人关注。本文重点介绍了二维高分子半导体在光催化全解水领域的最新研究进展,着重讨论了目前用于调控二维高分子材料能带结构和表面活性位点的方法,并展望二维高分子材料在光催化全解水研究中所存在的机遇和挑战。

Converting solar energy into storable and transportable chemical fuels through artificial photosynthesis represents one of the most promising solutions to address the global energy crisis and environmental issues.The key to realize artificial photosynthesis is to develop low-cost,efficient,and durable photocatalysts which can be synthesized in large scale.Recently,semiconducting polymers have emerged as a new class of photocatalysts for various photocatalytic applications as their electronic structures can be conveniently designed and controlled at a molecular level.Moreover,due to the unique two-dimensional(2D)planar structure,2D polymer nanosheets stand out as the most intriguing polymeric materials for photocatalytic energy conversion.Compared to polymer photocatalysts with other dimensions,the 2D structure offers many distinct features such as high surface areas,abundant surface active sites,efficient charge separation,and facile formation of heterostructures with other materials.Here,recent progress in developing 2D polymers for photocatalytic overall water splitting is highlighted.Several approaches for tuning their electronic structures and surface active sites to achieve overall water splitting are introduced.It is expected that the design principles,synthetic methods,fabrication strategies,and characterization methodologies summarized here would be of great value for future solar energy conversion using polymer photocatalysts in light of that photocatalytic overall water splitting is not only fundamentally important in basic science but also critical for artificial photosynthesis.Meanwhile,future opportunities and challenges in developing polymer photocatalysts for water splitting are also pointed out.This report would stimulate further interests and efforts in developing polymers for solar-to-chemical energy conversion.