Manipulating Spin‐Orbit Coupling in Conjugated Microporous Polymers Through Torsion Engineering to Generate Efficient Triplet Excitons for High‐Performance Photocatalysis

ABSTRACT Maximizing photon utilization in organic photocatalysis requires harnessing both singlet and triplet excitons, however, the strategies to populate the spin‐forbidden triplet state in metal‐free polymers are rare. To address this issue, we report a new strategy, namely employing a spin‐orbit charge transfer intersystem crossing (SOCT‐ISC), to unlock the triplet manifold in conjugated microporous polymers (CMPs). Using a postsynthetic [2 + 2] cycloaddition‐retroelectrocyclization (CA‐RE) reaction, we precisely control the cyano number in the polymer backbone. This chemical modification induces a critical orthogonal molecular torsion, which maximizes spin‐orbit coupling (SOC) and minimizes the singlet‐triplet energy gap (Δ E ST ). Femtosecond transient absorption spectroscopy confirms the efficient triplet generation by torsion engineering. Consequently, the optimized photocatalyst achieves a hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2 ) production rate of 5.01 mmol g −1 h −1 in pure water and a rate of 101.26 mmol g −1 h −1 in a benzyl alcohol‐coupled system, with a solar‐to‐chemical conversion (SCC) efficiency of 0.62%, and an outdoor production reaches 5 mmol L −1 daily. This work leverages torsion engineering to harness triplet excitons, demonstrating the successful overcoming of thermodynamic barriers in artificial photosynthesis.

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Publication Details

Journal
Angewandte Chemie International Edition
Published
2026-09-08
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.6174836
Primary Topic
Covalent Organic Framework Applications
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article
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article

Manipulating Spin‐Orbit Coupling in Conjugated Microporous Polymers Through Torsion Engineering to Generate Efficient Triplet Excitons for High‐Performance Photocatalysis

Guangfeng Liu, Yihan Tang, XU Heman, Lixuan Kan et al.
Angewandte Chemie International Edition
Covalent Organic Framework Applications
article

Manipulating Spin‐Orbit Coupling in Conjugated Microporous Polymers Through Torsion Engineering to Generate Efficient Triplet Excitons for High‐Performance Photocatalysis

Guangfeng Liu, Yihan Tang, XU Heman, Lixuan Kan, Peiyang Gu, Qianfeng Gu, Shiyuan Zhou, Qichun Zhang, Yuzhe Zhang, Jingwen Dong, Danfeng Wang
article en

Abstract

ABSTRACT Maximizing photon utilization in organic photocatalysis requires harnessing both singlet and triplet excitons, however, the strategies to populate the spin‐forbidden triplet state in metal‐free polymers are rare. To address this issue, we report a new strategy, namely employing a spin‐orbit charge transfer intersystem crossing (SOCT‐ISC), to unlock the triplet manifold in conjugated microporous polymers (CMPs). Using a postsynthetic [2 + 2] cycloaddition‐retroelectrocyclization (CA‐RE) reaction, we precisely control the cyano number in the polymer backbone. This chemical modification induces a critical orthogonal molecular torsion, which maximizes spin‐orbit coupling (SOC) and minimizes the singlet‐triplet energy gap (Δ E ST ). Femtosecond transient absorption spectroscopy confirms the efficient triplet generation by torsion engineering. Consequently, the optimized photocatalyst achieves a hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2 ) production rate of 5.01 mmol g −1 h −1 in pure water and a rate of 101.26 mmol g −1 h −1 in a benzyl alcohol‐coupled system, with a solar‐to‐chemical conversion (SCC) efficiency of 0.62%, and an outdoor production reaches 5 mmol L −1 daily. This work leverages torsion engineering to harness triplet excitons, demonstrating the successful overcoming of thermodynamic barriers in artificial photosynthesis.

Angewandte Chemie International Edition
Zhejiang Normal University (CN), Nanchang University (CN), City University of Hong Kong (HK), Shanghai Mental Health Center (CN), Changzhou University (CN), Chung-Ang University (KR)
Openalex Percentile: Top 24%
Covalent Organic Framework Applications
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