Superfine palladium nanocrystals on a polyphenylene framework for photocatalysis

Abstract

The design of high-efficiency photocatalysts is a crucial step to convert light energy for chemical synthesis. In this study, a Pd/polyphenylene (PPh) photocatalyst was synthesized via a palladium catalyzed Suzuki coupling reaction and the in situ pyrolysis of a Pd precursor. A two-stage heating strategy was developed to successfully control the size distribution of loaded Pd nanocrystals. This Pd/PPh catalyst displayed excellent photocatalytic activity during a p-nitrophenol reduction evaluation test. The results indicated that the enhanced catalytic activity could be mainly attributed to synergetic promotion between the Pd nanocrystals and the PPh framework, as well as the high-efficiency light harvesting and energy transfer by the conjugate skeleton of PPh. This research opens up the exploration of conjugate polymers as photoactive carriers for the design of high-efficiency photocatalysts.