Donor–acceptor dyes are a well‐established class of photosensitizers, used to enhance visible‐light harvesting in solar cells and in direct photocatalytic reactions, such as H₂ production by photoreforming of sacrificial electron donors (SEDs). Amines—typically triethanolamine (TEOA)—are commonly employed as SEDs in such reactions. Dye‐sensitized photoreforming of more sustainable, biomass‐derived alcohols, on the other hand, was only recently reported by using methanol as the electron donor. In this work, several rationally designed donor–acceptor dyes were used as sensitizers in H₂ photocatalytic production, comparing the efficiency of TEOA and EtOH as SEDs. In particular, the effect of hydrophobic chains in the spacer and/or the donor unit of the dyes was systematically studied. The H₂ production rates were higher when TEOA was used as SED, whereas the activity trends depended on the SED used. The best performance was obtained with TEOA by using a sensitizer with just one bulky hydrophobic moiety, propylenedioxythiophene, placed on the spacer unit. In the case of EtOH, the best‐performing sensitizers were the ones featuring a thiazolo[5,4‐d]thiazole internal unit, needed for enhancing light harvesting, and carrying alkyl chains on both the donor part and the spacer unit. The results are discussed in terms of reaction mechanism, interaction with the SED, and structural/electrochemical properties of the sensitizers.

中文翻译：

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迈向可持续的氢气生产：用于感光乙醇光重整的疏水性三苯胺基染料的合理设计

供体-受体染料是一类公认的光敏剂，用于增强太阳能电池和直接光催化反应（例如通过牺牲电子供体（SED）的光重整产生H _2）中的可见光收集。在此类反应中，胺（通常为三乙醇胺（TEOA））通常用作SED。另一方面，最近才报道使用甲醇作为电子给体，对染料进行光敏的更可持续的，生物质衍生的光重整。在这项工作中，几种合理设计的供体-受体染料被用作H _2中的敏化剂。光催化生产，比较TEOA和EtOH作为SED的效率。特别是，系统地研究了间隔基和/或染料供体单元中疏水链的作用。当将TEOA用作SED时，H _2的生产率较高，而活性趋势取决于所使用的SED。使用TEOA，通过使用仅在间隔单元上放置一个疏水基团，即丙烯二氧基噻吩的敏化剂，可以获得最佳性能。就EtOH而言，表现最佳的敏化剂是具有噻唑洛的敏化剂[5,4- d噻唑内部单元，用于增强光收集，并在供体部分和间隔单元上均带有烷基链。根据反应机理，与SED的相互作用以及敏化剂的结构/电化学性质对结果进行了讨论。