Issue 22, 2021

Efficient non-metal based conducting polymers for photocatalytic hydrogen production: comparative study between polyaniline, polypyrrole and PEDOT

Abstract

Incorporation of conducting polymers (CPs) with TiO2 is considered a promising pathway toward the fabrication of highly efficient non-metal based photocatalysts. Herein, we report the fabrication of TiO2@polyaniline, TiO2@polypyrrole, and TiO2@poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) photocatalyst heterostructures via the facile wet incipient impregnation method. The mass ratios of CPs in the composites were optimized. The structure, morphology, optical and surface texture of the samples were characterized by XRD, TEM, TGA, DRS, and N2-physisorption techniques. The TiO2@2PEDOT, TiO2@2PPy, and TiO2@5PAn composites were found to exhibit the highest H2 evolution rate (HER) of 1.37, 2.09, and 3.1 mmol h−1 g−1, respectively. Compared to bare TiO2, the HER was significantly enhanced by 16, 24, and 36-fold, respectively. Photoelectrochemical measurements (CV, CA and EIS) were conducted, to evaluate the photoelectric properties of the synthesized composites and assist in understanding the photocatalytic mechanism. The deposition method plays a key-role in forming the photocatalyst/CP interface. This simple impregnation route was found to provide an excellent interface for charge transfer between composite components compared to chemisorption and in situ polymerization methods. This study sheds light on the promising effect of CP incorporation with semiconductor photocatalysts, as a cheap and efficient matrix, on photocatalytic performance.

Graphical abstract: Efficient non-metal based conducting polymers for photocatalytic hydrogen production: comparative study between polyaniline, polypyrrole and PEDOT

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
14 2月 2021
Accepted
31 3月 2021
First published
08 4月 2021
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY-NC license

RSC Adv., 2021,11, 13229-13244

Efficient non-metal based conducting polymers for photocatalytic hydrogen production: comparative study between polyaniline, polypyrrole and PEDOT

H. M. El-Bery, M. R. Salah, S. M. Ahmed and S. A. Soliman, RSC Adv., 2021, 11, 13229 DOI: 10.1039/D1RA01218E

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications, without requesting further permission from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given and it is not used for commercial purposes.

To request permission to reproduce material from this article in a commercial publication, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party commercial publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements