International Journal of Photoenergy
Volume 2008 (2008), Article ID 164702, 5 pages
doi:10.1155/2008/164702
Research Article

Characterization of Conjugated Polymer Poly(fluorene-co-thiophene) and Its Application as Photosensitizer of TiO2

Rongliang Qiu,1 Lin Song,1 Dongdong Zhang,1 Yueqi Mo,2 Eric Brewer,3 and Xiongfei Huang1

1School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China
2College of Material Science and Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510641, China
3Viridian Environmental, LLC, Arlington 22207, VA, USA

Received 26 February 2007; Accepted 15 April 2007

Academic Editor: M. Sabry A. Abdel-Mottaleb

Copyright © 2008 Rongliang Qiu et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

The copolymer poly(fluorene-co-thiophene) (PFT) has strong absorption in the visible light region. In this paper, PFTs with four different thiophene contents were evaluated for their suitability as photosensitizers of TiO2. All four of the PFTs were capable of being excited by light with wavelengths above 455 nm, and all had reductive potentials more negative than the conduction band potential of TiO2. Consequently, it was deemed that transfer of electrons from the excited PFTs to the conduction band of TiO2 was thermodynamically possible. PFTs with higher thiophene content had more electron transitions in the excited state, resulting in increased photocatalytic activity of PFT-sensitized TiO2. The method used to prepare the combined PFT/TiO2 photocatalyst affected its photocatalytic activity. Best results in this study were achieved by dropwise addition of a tetrahydrofuran solution of PFT to a stirred TiO2/ethanol suspension.