Photocatalytic hydrogen production from water offers an abundant, clean fuel source, but it is challenging to produce photocatalysts that use the solar spectrum effectively. Many hydrogen-evolving photocatalysts are active in the ultraviolet range, but ultraviolet light accounts for only 3% of the energy available in the solar spectrum at ground level. We have prepared a series of amorphous, conjugated microporous polymers with exquisite synthetic control over the optical gap. Specific monomer compositions give polymers that are robust and effective photocatalysts for the evolution of hydrogen from water in the presence of a sacrificial electron donor, without the apparent need for an added metal co-catalyst. Some polymers are almost exclusively photoactive under visible rather than ultraviolet irradiation.
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