Structural Design of Isomerized Coplanar Ladder Polymers for Photocatalytic Hydrogen Production

The efficient separation and migration of photogenerated charge carriers remains a major challenge in polymer-based photocatalysis. Building planar structures through ladder-type polymers has emerged as an effective strategy to enhance charge carrier dynamics. In this context, we investigate the crucial yet overlooked role of structural isomerization in such systems. Herein, we report two isomeric ladder polymers with coplanar backbones, PAE-L and PAE-Z, to systematically investigate the influence of molecular configuration on photocatalytic performance. The optimized PAE-L exhibits enhanced light-harvesting capability, strengthened π-π stacking, and superior charge transport properties, leading to remarkable photocatalytic hydrogen evolution activity. This work provides a reference for the design and performance optimization of efficient coplanar conjugated polymer photocatalysts.