Abstract
The future challenges associated with the shortage of fossil fuels and their current environmental impacts intrigued the researchers to look for alternative ways of generating green energy. Solar-driven water splitting into oxygen and hydrogen is one of those advanced strategies. Researchers have studied various semiconductor materials to achieve potential results. However, it encountered multiple challenges such as high cost, low photostability and efficiency, and required multistep modifications. The conjugated polymers (CPs) have emerged as promising alternatives for conventional inorganic semiconductors. The CPs offer low cost, sufficient light absorption efficiency, excellent photo and chemical stability, and molecular optoelectronic tunable characteristics. Furthermore, organic CPs also present higher flexibility to tune the basic framework of the backbone of the polymers, amendments in the sidechain to incorporate desired functionalities, and much-needed porosity to serve better for photocatalytic applications. This review article summarizes the recent advancements made in visible-light-driven water splitting covering the aspects of synthetic strategies and experimental parameters employed for water splitting reactions with special emphasis on conjugated polymers such as linear CPs, planarized CPs, graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4), conjugated microporous polymers (CMPs), covalent organic frameworks (COFs), and conjugated polymer-based nanocomposites (CPNCs). The current challenges and future prospects have also been described briefly.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | e202100336 |
| Journal | Chemical Record |
| Volume | 22 |
| Issue number | 7 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jul 2022 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:. Muhammad Ashraf received his M.Phil. degree in Chemistry from the University of Malakand, Pakistan, and currently finalizing his Ph.D. thesis from King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM), Saudi Arabia. He was awarded a Ph.D. research fellowship from KFUPM, with a Lecturer position. His research interests include the engineering of advanced nanomaterials and their surface functionalization for organic transformations, renewable energy harvesting, and energy storage applications
Funding Information:
This research is jointly supported by the Interdisciplinary Research Center for Hydrogen and Energy Storage (IRC-HES), King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Dhahran 31261, Saudi Arabia and Chemical and Material Science, eSchool of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Chung-Ang University, 84 Heukseok-ro, Seoul 06974, South Korea. The work is financially supported by the Brain Pool program funded by the Ministry of Science and ICT through the National Research Foundation of Korea (grant number NRF-2021H1D3A2A02044205).
Funding Information:
. Prof. Nisar Ullah received Ph.D. from the University of Graz in 2001. After brief stints as a postdoctoral fellow at the McMaster University and the University of Guelph, he moved to NAEJA Pharmaceuticals Inc. where he worked on Pfizer, Ann Arbor‐NAEJA medicinal chemistry collaboration projects for almost five years. In 2007, joined KFUPM and was promoted to Full Professor in 2016. His research interests focus on developing tools to perform efficient organic synthetic transformations. He is the recipient of the Diligence, Dedication, and Performance award by Pfizer Ann Arbor in 2005 and the Excellence in Research Award by KFUPM in 2019
Funding Information:
This research is jointly supported by the Interdisciplinary Research Center for Hydrogen and Energy Storage (IRC‐HES), King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Dhahran 31261, Saudi Arabia and Chemical and Material Science, eSchool of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Chung‐Ang University, 84 Heukseok‐ro, Seoul 06974, South Korea. The work is financially supported by the Brain Pool program funded by the Ministry of Science and ICT through the National Research Foundation of Korea (grant number NRF‐2021H1D3A2A02044205).
Funding Information:
. Dr. Shahid Ali is working as Assistant Professor (Research Scientist‐III) at Interdisciplinary Research Center for Hydrogen and Energy Storage (IRC‐HES), KFUPM. In 2017, he received his Ph.D. degree from the Department of Chemistry, KFUPM. His work concentrates on the development of advanced colloidal nanomaterials, fluorescent quantum dots, sensing materials, energy storage materials, redox flow battery systems, MRI & CT contrast agents for oil reservoir applications. He has been actively involved in various research projects funded by Saudi Aramco, NSTIP, MoE, DSR, and IRC‐HES. He has published more than 40 peer‐reviewed research articles in reputable international journals and holds several US patents
Funding Information:
. Dr. Safyan Akram Khan is a Research Scientist‐I (Professor) at Interdisciplinary Research Center for Hydrogen and Energy Storage (IRC‐HES), KFUPM. He received his Ph.D. degree (2004) in the field of colloidal chemistry from the University of Bristol, UK. His research mainly focuses on the field of colloidal formulation, synthesis of nano‐materials, core/shell silica NPs, and sensing materials for various applications. He has extensive experience in coordinating, structuring, and running contractual industrial research for several local and multinational organizations. Dr. Khan has also served as a Program Manager for a flagship program called NextGenChem funded by European Regional Development Fund at Lancaster University UK to work with SMEs
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 The Chemical Society of Japan & Wiley-VCH GmbH.
Keywords
- Conjugated polymers
- conjugated microporous polymers (CMPs)
- covalent organic frameworks (COFs)
- graphitic carbon nitride (g-CN)
- water splitting
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- General Chemistry
- Biochemistry
- General Chemical Engineering
- Materials Chemistry
