Oligoethylene Glycol Side Chains Increase Charge Generation in Organic Semiconductor Nanoparticles for Enhanced Photocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution was written by Kosco, Jan;Gonzalez-Carrero, Soranyel;Howells, Calvyn T.;Zhang, Weimin;Moser, Maximilian;Sheelamanthula, Rajendar;Zhao, Lingyun;Willner, Benjamin;Hidalgo, Tania C.;Faber, Hendrik;Purushothaman, Balaji;Sachs, Michael;Cha, Hyojung;Sougrat, Rachid;Anthopoulos, Thomas D.;Inal, Sahika;Durrant, James R.;McCulloch, Iain. And the article was included in Advanced Materials (Weinheim, Germany) in 2022.Formula: C5H12O3 This article mentions the following:
Organic semiconductor nanoparticles (NPs) composed of an electron donor/acceptor (D/A) semiconductor blend have recently emerged as an efficient class of hydrogen-evolution photocatalysts. It is demonstrated that using conjugated polymers functionalized with (oligo)ethylene glycol side chains in NP photocatalysts can greatly enhance their H2-evolution efficiency compared to their nonglycolated analogs. The strategy is broadly applicable to a range of structurally diverse conjugated polymers. Transient spectroscopic studies show that glycolation facilitates charge generation even in the absence of a D/A heterojunction, and further suppresses both geminate and nongeminate charge recombination in D/A NPs. This results in a high yield of photogenerated charges with lifetimes long enough to efficiently drive ascorbic acid oxidation, which is correlated with greatly enhanced H2-evolution rates in the glycolated NPs. Glycolation increases the relative permittivity of the semiconductors and facilitates water uptake. Together, these effects may increase the high-frequency relative permittivity inside the NPs sufficiently, to cause the observed suppression of exciton and charge recombination responsible for the high photocatalytic activities of the glycolated NPs. In the experiment, the researchers used many compounds, for example, 2-(2-Methoxyethoxy)ethanol (cas: 111-77-3Formula: C5H12O3).
2-(2-Methoxyethoxy)ethanol (cas: 111-77-3) belongs to ethers. Ether is less polar than esters, alcohols or amines because of the oxygen atom that is unable to participate in hydrogen bonding due to the presence of bulky alkyl groups on both sides of the oxygen atom. But ether is more polar than alkenes. At room temperature, ethers are pleasant-smelling colourless liquids. Relative to alcohols, ethers are generally less dense, are less soluble in water, and have lower boiling points. They are relatively unreactive, and as a result they are useful as solvents for fats, oils, waxes, perfumes, resins, dyes, gums, and hydrocarbons. Vapours of certain ethers are used as insecticides, miticides, and fumigants for soil.Formula: C5H12O3
Referemce:
Ether – Wikipedia,
Ether | (C2H5)2O – PubChem