Efficient hydrogen generation of a cobalt porphyrin-bridged covalent triazine polymer

Hydrogen production obtained by electrocatalytic water splitting exhibits great promise in addressing both energy shortage and environmental contamination. Herein, we prepared a novel cobalt porphyrin (CoTAPP)-bridged covalent triazine polymer (CoTAPPCC) by covalently linking CoTAPP with cyanuric chloride (CC) for catalytic hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Both experimental techniques and density functional theory (DFT) calculations were used to evaluate the correlation of HER activity with molecular structures. Benefiting from the strong electronic interactions between the CC unit and the CoTAPP moiety, a standard current density at 10 mA cm-2 is obtained for CoTAPPCC with a low overpotential of 150 mV in acid, which is comparable to or better than the best records reported previously. Additionally, a competitive HER activity in basic medium is obtained for CoTAPPCC. The strategy reported herein is valuable for designing and developing porphyrin-based efficient HER electrocatalysts.

Automated summary

In this study, a novel cobalt porphyrin (CoTAPP)-bridged covalent triazine polymer (CoTAPPCC) was prepared for electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) by covalently linking CoTAPP with cyanuric chloride (CC). Experimental techniques and density functional theory (DFT) calculations were used to evaluate the correlation of HER activity with molecular structures. The strong electronic interactions between the CC unit and the CoTAPP moiety result in a standard current density of 10 mA cm-2 with a low overpotential of 150 mV in acid, which is comparable to or better than the best records reported previously. Additionally, CoTAPPCC exhibits competitive HER activity in basic medium. This strategy is valuable for designing and developing efficient porphyrin-based HER electrocatalysts.