Molecular Dipole‐Induced Photoredox Catalysis for Hydrogen Evolution over Self‐Assembled Naphthalimide Nanoribbons

The D-π-A type 4-((9-phenylcarbazol-3-yl)ethynyl)-N-dodecyl-1,8-naphthalimide (CZNI) with a large dipole moment of 8.49 D was smartly designed and synthesized to fabricate self-assembled CZNI nanoribbons for efficient photocatalytic hydrogen production. It was revealed that the molecular dipole field could significantly reduce the exciton binding energy of the organic semiconductor and drive exciton dissociation to free charges for reducing protons to H2.