Project R-14687

Conjugated polymer nanoparticles for hydrogen generation (Research)

Organic semiconductor nanoparticles based on blends of a conjugated polymer as electron donor and a small molecule acceptor have recently shown great promise for photocatalytic hydrogen evolution. Extensive research on organic photovoltaic materials has at the same time resulted in several new and efficient organic photovoltaic materials, which strongly absorb in the near-infrared (NIR), and efficiently convert the absorbed photons to long lived charges, available for photochemistry. In this project, nanoparticles incorporating a series of these new materials with various bandgaps will be synthesized and the influence of physiochemical properties, such as donor:acceptor composition, particle size, surfactant and aqueous environment on the photo-induced charge generation mechanism will be studied. We aim to understand the structure-property-performance relationships resulting in efficient photon-to-hydrogen conversion. This will result in rationally designed nanoparticles opening up opportunities in green hydrogen production by harvesting a large part of the visible and NIR parts of the solar spectrum. Besides its potential in renewable energy, this project will additionally investigate these nanoparticles for hydrogen therapy in cancer treatment, where local photo-generation of hydrogen at tumor sites is hypothesized to overcome the challenge of tumor hypoxia at low doses of NIR light.

01 January 2024 - 31 December 2027