Using polymers to enhance photosensitized reduction of water to hydrogen

众所周知，该原理是利用阳光分解水分子，通过水还原产生氢气。然而，实际应用仍有很长的路要走，需要大量的研究工作。主要的挑战是开发廉价的光敏剂和催化剂。在这个项目中，我们建议研究使用合理设计的廉价聚合物来开发水性介质中的疏水光敏剂，并提高光诱导水还原成氢的效率。我们将研究嵌段共聚物和疏水改性聚合物，其胶束可以包封光敏剂并有利于光诱导电子转移过程。这种基于聚合物的新概念可能有助于寻找廉价有效的光敏剂，并为将太阳能转化为清洁氢燃料的重要领域做出贡献。

The principle is well known of using sunlight to split water molecules to yield hydrogen gas through water reduction. However, practical applications are still a long way to go, requiring major research effort. The main challenge is the development of cheap photosensitizers and catalysts. In this project, we propose to investigate the use of rationally designed inexpensive polymers to enable the exploitation of hydrophobic photosensitizers in aqueous media and to enhance the efficiency of photoinduced water reduction to hydrogen. We will study block copolymers and hydrophobically modified polymers whose micelles can encapsulate photosensitizers and favor the photoinduced electron transfer processes. This polymer-based novel concept may help searching for cheap and effective photosensitizers and contribute to the important field of converting solar energy to the clean hydrogen fuel.