Soft Materials for Photoelectrochemical Fuel Production.
Erin L Ratcliff, Zhiting Chen, Casey M Davis, Eui Hyun Suh, Michael F Toney, Neal R Armstrong, Obadiah G Reid, Ann L Greenaway
Author Information
Erin L Ratcliff: Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721, United States. ORCID
Zhiting Chen: Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721, United States.
Casey M Davis: Department of Chemistry, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, Colorado 80309, United States.
Eui Hyun Suh: Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721, United States.
Michael F Toney: Materials Science and Engineering Program, Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, Colorado 80309, United States. ORCID
Neal R Armstrong: Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721, United States. ORCID
Obadiah G Reid: Renewable and Sustainable Energy Institute, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, Colorado 80303, United States. ORCID
Ann L Greenaway: Materials, Chemistry, and Computational Science Directorate, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, Colorado 80401, United States. ORCID
Polymer semiconductors are fascinating materials that could enable delivery of chemical fuels from water and sunlight, offering several potential advantages over their inorganic counterparts. These include extensive synthetic tunability of optoelectronic and redox properties and unique opportunities to tailor catalytic sites via chemical control over the nanoenvironment. Added to this is proven functionality of polymer semiconductors in solar cells, low-cost processability, and potential for large-area scalability. Herein we discuss recent progress on soft photoelectrochemical systems and define three critical knowledge gaps that must be closed for these materials to reach their full potential. We must (1) understand the influence of electrolyte penetration on photoinduced charge separation, transport, and recombination, (2) learn to exploit the swollen polymer/electrolyte interphase to drive selective fuel formation, and (3) establish co-design criteria for soft materials that sustain function in the face of harsh chemical challenges. Achieving these formidable goals would enable tailorable systems for driving photoelectrochemical fuel production at scale.
References
J Am Chem Soc. 2020 Sep 23;142(38):16099-16116
[PMID: 32818372]
J Am Chem Soc. 2022 Aug 3;144(30):13673-13687
[PMID: 35857885]
