Chem. J. Chinese Universities ›› 2022, Vol. 43 ›› Issue (9): 20220325.doi: 10.7503/cjcu20220325

• Perspectives • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Charge Separation and Surface Reaction Mechanisms for Polymeric Single-atom Photocatalysts

TENG Zhenyuan1(), ZHANG Qitao2, SU Chenliang2()   

  1. 1.Department of Applied Chemistry,Faculty of Engineering,Kyushu Institute of Technology,Kitakyushu 804? 8550,Japan
    2.International Collaborative Laboratory of 2D Materials for Optoelectronics Science and Technology of Ministry of;Education,Institute of Microscale Optoelectronics,Shenzhen University,Shenzhen 518060,China
  • Received:2022-05-11 Online:2022-09-10 Published:2022-07-15
  • Contact: TENG Zhenyuan,SU Chenliang E-mail:zy.teng@foxmail.com;chmsuc@szu.edu.cn
  • Supported by:
    the National Natural Science Foundation of China(21805191);the Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation, China(2020A1515010982);the Shenzhen Science and Technology Program, China(JCYJ20200812122947002)

Abstract:

In the past decade, a large number of single-atom catalysts(SACs) have been synthesized, and they exhibited excellent catalytic performance as well as high practical and cost advantages in photo-, electro-, thermo- catalysis. The uniqueness of the photocatalytic process determines that it is essentially different from the thermocatalytic and electrocatalytic processes, that is, electrons and holes at the excited state(rather than the valence electrons in the ground state) participate in the reaction. This perspective first discusses the difference between organic polymeric semiconductors and traditional inorganic semiconductors, clarifies that organic polymer semiconductors generally have small relative permittivity and the short distance between photogenerated electrons and holes(computationally, usually<1 nm), resulting in almost absent band bending at the interface of polymetric photocatalysts. The introduction of metal ions into the matrix of organic semiconductors can form efficient donor- acceptor pairs, followed by an increased lifetime of charge carriers and improved carrier separation. In the process of designing high-efficiency polymer single-atom catalysts, the excited state charge distribution after the introduction of single-atom sites and the driving force of trapped electrons on different reactions are crucial to the overall activity of the catalysts. Time-space population analysis for wavefunction analysis and transient absorption spectroscopy can provide useful information for researchers. In the near future, with the further development of artificial intelligence, establishing an energy function with a regression accuracy close to or reaching the density functional theory level to invert the energy change of the system in the excited state is expected to establish a reliable connection between the excitation property and the activity of the photocatalytic reaction. Furthermore, the role of ligands and solvation should also be carefully considered in future studies.

Key words: Polymer, Single-atom catalyst, Photocatalysis, Dielectric property

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