Organic Supramolecular Materials for Photocatalytic Splitting of Water to Produce Hydrogen

Semiconductor photocatalytic water splitting to produce H 2 is ideal for converting solar energy into clean hydrogen energy, and the key to achieving solar H 2 production is to develop stable, efficient, and inexpensive photocatalysts. Recently, strategies based on self-assembly organic supramolecular using noncovalent interactions offer the possibility to mimic this functional correlation among molecules to optimize photocatalytic water splitting. As promising building blocks, perylene diimide (PDI) and porphyrins have demonstrated great potential in visible-light photocatalytic H 2 production, because of their electrical, optical, and catalytic properties. From this perspective, we have summarized the recent significant advances in the design and photocatalytic water splitting performance of PDI and porphyrin-based supramolecular materials. Rational strategies are described, such as molecular structure, crystal modification, and interfacial heterostructure. Finally, the ongoing challenges and opportunities for the future development of supramolecular photocatalysts in high-quality nanodevices are also proposed.