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Tailor‐Made Photoconductive Pyrene‐Based Covalent Organic Frameworks for Visible‐Light Driven Hydrogen Generation
Author(s) -
Stegbauer Linus,
Zech Sebastian,
Savasci Gökcen,
Banerjee Tanmay,
Podjaski Filip,
Schwinghammer Katharina,
Ochsenfeld Christian,
Lotsch Bettina V.
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
advanced energy materials
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 10.08
H-Index - 220
eISSN - 1614-6840
pISSN - 1614-6832
DOI - 10.1002/aenm.201703278
Subject(s) - physisorption , materials science , covalent bond , azine , photoconductivity , pyrene , hydrogen , nitrogen , photocurrent , polymer , quantum efficiency , photochemistry , chemical engineering , nanotechnology , chemical physics , chemistry , optoelectronics , organic chemistry , composite material , adsorption , engineering
Covalent organic frameworks (COFs) have emerged as a new class of crystalline porous polymers displaying molecular tunability combined with structural definition. Here, a series of three conjugated, photoactive azine‐linked COFs based on pyrene building blocks which differ in the number of nitrogen atoms in the peripheral aromatic units is presented. The structure of the COFs is analyzed by combined experimental and computational physisorption as well as quantum‐chemical calculations, which suggest a slipped‐stacked arrangement of the 2D layers. Photocurrents of up to 6 µA cm −2 with subsecond photoresponse times are measured on thin film samples for the first time. While all COFs are capable of producing hydrogen from water, their efficiency increases significantly with decreasing number of nitrogen atoms. The trending activities are rationalized by photoelectrochemical measurements and quantum‐chemical calculations which suggest an increase in the thermodynamic driving force with decreasing nitrogen content to be the origin of the observed differences in hydrogen evolution activities.