Non-Conventional Bulk Heterojunction Nanoparticle Photocatalysts for Sacrificial Hydrogen Evolution from Water

Photocatalyst systems combining donor polymers with acceptor molecules have shown the highest evolution rates for sacrificial hydrogen production from water for organic systems to date. Here, new donor molecules have been designed and synthesised taking inspiration from the structure-performance relationships which have been established in the development of non-fullerene acceptors. While a conventional bulk heterojunction (BHJ) pairing consists of a donor polymer and acceptor small molecules, here we have successfully reversed this approach by using our new molecules in combination with a n-type conjugated polymer to produce non-conventional BHJ nanoparticles and applied these blends to the sacrificial hydrogen evolution from water. The best performing heterojunction displayed high activity for sacrificial hydrogen production from water with a hydrogen evolution rate of 22,321 µmol h−1 g−1 which compares well with the state-of-the-art for conventional BHJ photocatalyst systems.