posted on 2024-03-07, 14:42authored byYuepeng Wang, Yiding Wang, Minhao Tang, Yusi Wang, Fengtao Zhang, Runyao Zhao, Yanfei Zhao, Zhimin Liu
The photocatalytic transformation
of carbon dioxide (CO2) into valuable chemicals is a challenging
process that requires
effective and selective catalysts. However, most polymer-based photocatalysts
with electron donor−acceptor (D−A) structures are synthesized
with a fixed D−A ratio by using expensive monomers. Herein,
we report a simple strategy to prepare polyarene oxides (PAOs) with
quinone structural units via oxidation treatment of polyarene (PA).
The resultant PAOs show tunable D−A structures and electronic
band positions depending on the degree of oxidation, which can catalyze
the photoreduction of CO2 with water under visible light
irradiation, generating CO as the sole carbonaceous product without
H2 generation. Especially, the PAO with an oxygen content
of 17.6% afforded the highest CO production rate of 161.9 μmol
g−1 h−1. It is verified that the
redox transformation between quinone and phenolic hydroxyl in PAOs
achieves CO2 photoreduction coupled with water oxidation.
This study provides a facile way to access conjugated polymers with
a tunable D−A structure and demonstrates that the resultant
PAOs are promising photocatalysts for CO2 reduction.