Covalently Locked Donor–Acceptor Block Copolymer Nanoparticles Enable Efficient, Stable and Reproducible Photocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution
Artikel i vetenskaplig tidskrift, 2026
Organic photocatalysts with tailored properties and unique processability offer a sustainable route to solar hydrogen. To maximize light harvesting and charge generation, donor and acceptor materials are usually physically mixed to form D:A heterojunction nanoparticles (NPs). However, weakly constrained interactions can promote phase segregation, morphological evolution, and limited reproducibility. Here, we introduce an all-conjugated donor–acceptor block copolymer, PBDB-T-b-PYT, in which covalent linkage between PBDB-T and PYT segments constrains nanoscale donor–acceptor organization and promotes intramolecular charge transfer. Compared with nanoparticles prepared from a physical PBDB-T:PYT blend, PBDB-T-b-PYT nanoparticles exhibit stronger photoluminescence quenching, more persistent charge-associated transient absorption features, and improved photoelectrochemical charge extraction. As a result, hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) rates exceeding 120 mmol cm−2 g−1 h−1 (>450 µmol h−1) are achieved with low Pt loading (<3 wt.%). PBDB-T-b-PYT NPs retained 95% of the initial HER rate after 96 h of photocatalysis. Conversely, NPs prepared from physically mixed PBDB-T and PYT show lower activity and faster deactivation, consistent with morphology-driven losses. PBDB-T-b-PYT also maintains high performance across polymer batches, improving reproducibility. These results establish all-conjugated donor–acceptor block copolymers as a promising design strategy for combining high activity, operational stability, and reproducibility in organic nanoparticle photocatalysis.
chemistry
organic chemistry
hydrogen production rate
hemoglobin
nanoparticle
photocatalysis
organic semiconductor
Författare
Alexandre Holmes
Chalmers, Kemi och kemiteknik, Tillämpad kemi
Qiaonan Chen
Chalmers, Kemi och kemiteknik, Tillämpad kemi
Rafael B. Ribeiro
Universidade de Sao Paulo (USP)
Leandro Rezende Franco
Chalmers, Kemi och kemiteknik, Tillämpad kemi
Soumi Roy
Chalmers, Kemi och kemiteknik, Kemi och biokemi
Linnea Lind
Chalmers, Kemi och kemiteknik, Kemi och biokemi
Xiaoman Bi
Zhengzhou University
Chalmers, Kemi och kemiteknik, Tillämpad kemi
Mateus Bergami
Karlstads universitet
Mathis Mortensen Brette
Chalmers, Kemi och kemiteknik, Tillämpad kemi
Lunjie Zeng
Chalmers, Fysik, Nano- och biofysik
Eva Olsson
Chalmers, Fysik, Nano- och biofysik
Bo Albinsson
Chalmers, Kemi och kemiteknik, Kemi och biokemi
Márcio T.do N. Varella
Universidade de Sao Paulo (USP)
C. Moyses Araujo
Karlstads universitet
Uppsala universitet
Ergang Wang
Chalmers, Kemi och kemiteknik
Zhengzhou University
Advanced Energy Materials
1614-6832 (ISSN) 1614-6840 (eISSN)
Vol. In PressÄmneskategorier (SSIF 2025)
Materialkemi
Fysikalisk kemi
DOI
10.1002/aenm.71708