Benzo[d][1,2,3]thiadiazole-Based Polymer Dots as Photocatalysts for Enhanced Efficiency and Stability of Photocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution under Visible Light Irradiation

Organic conjugated polymer dots (Pdots) are emerging as a potential photocatalyst for hydrogen evolution from water. In this work, three organic semiconducting polymer dots (Pdots) based on benzo[d][1,2,3]thiadiazole (isoBT) and surfactant-based poly(ethylene oxide) chains (Triton) are presented as photocatalysts for visible-light-driven hydrogen generation in a completely solvent-free organic system. The resulting Pdots exhibit good photocatalytic activity and excellent photocatalytic stability. Achieving high efficiency with long-term photostability is important for the future commercialization of large-scale hydrogen production. Moreover, PG6 Pdots with a 1-chloro-4-fluorobenzene moiety showed high photocatalytic efficiency with high photocatalytic stability over 100 h. Thus, the introduction of a group with high electronegativity on isoBT-based Pdots is very beneficial for promising photocatalysts in terms of efficiency and stability, even though they could be used in a wide absorption range.