Supramolecular interaction of molecular catalyst on a polymeric carbon nitride photoanode enhances photoelectrochemical activity and stability at neutral pH

Abstract

Polymeric carbon nitride (CN) emerged as an alternative, metal-free photoanode material for water-splitting photoelectrochemical cells (PECs). However, the performance of CN photoanodes is limited due to the slow charge separation and water oxidation kinetics due to poor interaction with water oxidation catalysts (WOCs). Moreover, operation under benign, neutral pH conditions is rarely reported. Here, we design a porous CN photoanode connected to a highly active molecular Ru-based WOC, which also acts as an additional photo-absorber. We show that the strong interaction between the π-system of the heptazine units within the CN with the CH groups of the WOC's equatorial ligand enables a strong connection between them and an efficient electronic communication path. The optimized photoanode exhibits a photocurrent density of 180 ± 10 μA cm