The development of hydrogen energy is one of strategies to solve the problems of energy crisis and environmental pollution. The usage of solar energy to produce hydrogen from water splitting has attracted much attention
in which the key point is to develop efficient and cheap photocatalysts. The current leading photocatalysts for hydrogen evolution are mainly based on inorganic semiconductors such as metal oxide or sulfide
which could absorb UV or visible light to generate electrons and holes. However
most inorganic or metal-based photocatalytic materials suffer from low photocatalytic activity under visible-light
harsh preparation conditions
and the limitation of resource. Organic polymeric photocatalysts have been the subject of intense recent interest due to their diverse synthetic modularity
which allows the fine synthetic control over their chemical structures and electronic properties. In particular
conjugated microporous polymers (CMPs)
as a novel class of organic photocatalysts for hydrogen evolution
have attracted much attention because of their extended π-conjugation along the polymer skeleton and high specific surface area. In this review
a brief summary on the recent development of polymer photocatalysts for hydrogen evolution from water splitting
including linear conjugated polymers
conjugated microporous polymers
and other related porous organic polymers has been made. Some challenges and prospects of organic polymer photocatalysts for photocatalytic hydrogen evolution from water splitting are also envisaged.