A dual polymer composite of poly(3-hexylthiophene) and poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) hybrid surface heterojunction with g-C3N4 for enhanced photocatalytic hydrogen evolution

HL Bao and XD Chen and R Yuan and C Zhang and SA Xu, RSC ADVANCES, 11, 32671-32679 (2021).

DOI: 10.1039/d1ra05527e

A surface heterojunction catalyst of g-C3N4-PEDOT/P3HT with P3HT and PEDOT as the polymer sensitizer and hole transport pathway is successfully prepared. The as constructed g-C3N4-PEDOT/P3HT composite exhibits a photocatalyst H-2 evolution rate up to 427703.3 mu mol h(-1) g(-1) which is 1059 times higher than that of g-C3N4, 118 times higher than that of g-C3N4-PEDOT with ascorbic acid as sacrificial reagents. What's more, the g-C3N4-PEDOT/P3HT can even show an obviously enhanced photocatalytic H-2 evolution rate which is 6.1 times higher than that of pure g-C3N4 in pure water without any sacrificial reagent. Combining the experimental results and molecular dynamic (MD) simulation results, a possible mechanism can be drawn that the existed PEDOT possesses relatively higher hole mobility and can be used as a hole conductor between g-C3N4 and P3HT. Then, the photogenerated holes migration can be accelerated by PEDOT from the VB of g-C3N4 to the VB of P3HT. All those factors may benefit the synergy among g-C3N4, PEDOT and P3HT, which finally facilitates the rapid migration of photoinduced electron-hole pairs and eventually improves the photocatalytic H-2 activity process of g-C3N4-PEDOT/P3HT with visible light. The present work may provide useful insights for designing a surface heterojunction composite photocatalyst with high photocatalytic activity for H-2 production.

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