Water-Soluble Conjugated Molecule for Solar-Driven Hydrogen Evolution from Salt Water

Photocatalytic hydrogen evolution is an attractive method for the acquisition of clean and sustainable energy with the use of solar power. Most reported studies have been carried out in scarce pure water. Therefore, the development of an artificial photosynthesis system that works perfectly with the earth's abundant seawater would be attractive. Herein, a supramolecular strategy for photocatalytic hydrogen production from the simulated seawater under sunlight irradiation (AM 1.5G, 100 mW cm(-2)) is presented using a water-soluble, conjugated molecule as the photosensitizer and the photodeposited Pt nanoparticles as the catalyst. Inspired by the natural photosynthesis system, unprecedented advantage of the chloride ions in seawater is taken and the formation of supramolecular structure is promoted by electrostatic interactions between chloride ions and the fine-designed PorFN, which further facilitates the loading of Pt nanoparticles and multielectron transfer. As a result, a hydrogen evolution rate of 10.8 mmol h(-1) g(-1) is achieved in the simulated seawater. Moreover, the photocatalytic activity shows relatively low dependence on the light intensity, which is of great importance for practical applications.