Synthetic Organic Design for Solar Fuel Systems

Abstract

From the understanding of biological processes and metalloenzymes to the development of inorganic catalysts, electro‐ and photocatalytic systems for fuel generation have evolved considerably during the last decades. Recently, organic and hybrid organic systems have emerged to challenge the classical inorganic structures through their enormous chemical diversity and modularity that led earlier to their success in organic (opto)electronics. This Minireview describes recent advances in the design of synthetic organic architectures and promising strategies toward (solar) fuel synthesis, highlighting progress on materials from organic ligands and chromophores to conjugated polymers and covalent organic frameworks.

Push–pull organic dyes and dye-catalyst assembly featuring a benzothiadiazole unit for photoelectrochemical hydrogen production

“…They could be a source of inspiration for the development of molecular dyads with improved photocatalytic activity. When analyzing the chemical structures of some of the most efficient organic dyes reported in DSSCs, [24][25][26][27][28] it appears that a benzothiadiazole (BTD) unit is oen used as a building block. 7,29 However, surprisingly, this motif has rarely been considered for the preparation of dyes applicable in photocatalysis 30 or DSPECs.…”

Organic Photosensitizers for Catalytic Solar Fuel Generation

“…Hence, it is necessary to develop cheaper and environmentally friendly PS, such as organic dyes, for the photocatalytic reduction of water and carbon dioxide. ,, Due to their applications in photoredox catalysis, − chemical biology, − molecular sensing, , and optoelectronics, organic dyes have attracted much attention recently. Small organic fluorophores are often characterized by singlet excitons, which hamper their efficiency in promoting photoredox reactions.…”

Comparison of homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysts in dye-sensitised photoelectrochemical cells for alcohol oxidation coupled to dihydrogen formation

“…Interestingly, when using alternative oxidation reactions, lower cell potentials are required, which results in higher cell efficiencies. [22][23][24][25][26] Improvement of cell performance is a motivation to study various DSPEC applications to give fundamental insights for the design of practical and real-world implementation of solar to products devices. Unfortunately, the DSPECs reported so far show short lifetimes (<1 week).…”