Copper-Surface-Mediated Synthesis of sp² Carbon-Conjugated Covalent Organic Framework Photocathodes for...

Sp²-carbon (sp²-c) covalent organic frameworks (COFs), featuring distinctive π-conjugated network structures, facilitate the migration of photo-generated carriers, rendering them exceptionally appealing for applications in photoelectrochemical water splitting. However, owing to the powdery nature of COFs, leaving anchor the sp²-c COFs powder tightly onto a conductive substrate challenging. Here, we propose a method for preparing photoactive substance-conductive substrate integrated photocathodes through copper surface-mediated knoevenagel polycondensation (Cu-SMKP), this approach results in a uniform and stable sp²-c COF film, directly grown on commercial copper foam (COFTh-Cu). The COFTh-Cu demonstrates a high H₂-evolution photocurrent density of 56 μA cm^-2 at 0.3 V vs. RHE, sustaining stability for 12 h. The as-prepared COFTh-Cu represents a 4.5-fold increase in current density compared to traditional spin-coating methods and outperforms most COF photocathodes without cocatalysts. This innovative copper surface-mediated approach for preparing photocathodes opens up a crucial pathway towards the realization of highly active COF photocathodes.