Dual‐Polarized Donor–Acceptor Polymer Unlocks Long‐Lived Triplet Excitons for High‐Efficiency H <sub>2</sub> O <sub>2</sub> Photosynthesis
Long-lived triplet excitons in polymers are crucial for driving oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in photocatalytic H<sub>2</sub>O<sub>2</sub> production, but their formation is typically limited by weak spin-orbit coupling (SOC) and a large singlet-triplet splitting energy (ΔE<sub>ST</sub>). Here we present a "dual-polarized" strategy in a novel donor-acceptor (D-A) polymer (MQDP) containing S═N─C and C═N─C linkages. MQDP polymer was prepared via supramolecular precursor polymerization of acenaphthenequinone (AQ), dibenzothiophene-5-oxide (DPO), and melem (ME). Compared to the single-polarized analogue MQP (τ<sub>p</sub> = 672 µs), the dual-polarized units in MQDP enhance SOC and reduce ΔE<sub>ST</sub>, thereby generating multiple singlet-to-triplet intersystem crossing (ISC) transfer channels to produce long-lived triplet excitons (τ<sub>p</sub> = 868 µs). In addition, the dual-polarized MQDP enriches surface-active sites for O<sub>2</sub> adsorption, effectively reducing the energy barrier for ORR. The MQDP achieves a remarkable H<sub>2</sub>O<sub>2</sub> generation rate of 15.38 mmol g<sup>-1</sup> h<sup>-1</sup> under visible light irradiation and ambient air, nearly 1.9 times higher than that of MQP (8.13 mmol g<sup>-1</sup> h<sup>-1</sup>). These findings demonstrate the effectiveness of the dual-polarized design in tuning exciton dynamics and surface reactivity of D-A polymers for enhanced photocatalysis.
Authors
- L Wang
- Qiao Shen
- Yupeng Yuan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3661-3066)
- Tong Tian
- Fuhu Yin
- Daochuan Jiang
- Yue Wang
- Zihuang Yuan
- Chuhong Zhu
- Yingqiang Sun
Institutions
- Anhui University (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Angewandte Chemie International Edition
- Published
- 2026-02-15
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.202521132
- Primary Topic
- Advanced Photocatalysis Techniques
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- National Natural Science Foundation of China