Efficient solar hydrogen production of zinc trimesityl porphyrin-based photocatalysts

Abstract

Dye-sensitized photocatalytic systems (DSPs) have emerged as a promising strategy to achieve efficient and stable solar-driven H2 evolution systems. In this work, we prepared and tested a series of zinc-trimesityl porphyrin carboxylic acid derivatives as photosensitizes in DSPs for H2 evolution. In order to unveil the influence of the anchoring group, different positions of the carboxylic acid were studied. All porphyrins were adsorbed onto platinum-doped titanium dioxide nanoparticles (Pt-TiO2 NPs) and were irradiated by a white LED source. The DSPs coated with Zn-TM(pCOOH)P(i.e. the carboxylic acid at the para-phenyl position) illustrated increased stability (2514 TONs for 1.0 × 10[Formula: see text] M) and the highest H2 evolution activity (1959 mmol g[Formula: see text] h[Formula: see text] for 1.5 × 10[Formula: see text] M). These results reveal that efficient and stable DSPs for H2 evolution can be developed by utilizing porphyrin derivatives as photosensitizers.