Thiophene Electrochemistry Towards Solar Fuels
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Authors
Lohar, Noah
Dailey, Tyler
Date of Issue
2024
Type
Presentation
Language
en_US
Subject Keywords
Other Titles
Abstract
Viable and efficient alternative solar fuels have implications from the renewable energy industry to space exploration. The long-range goal of this research is to use visible light to form carbon-carbon bonds via oxidative homocoupling reaction. Thiophene compounds with an alpha-proton were used to investigate the viability of using visible light to drive carbon-carbon bond formation. The synthesis, purification, and characterization of 2-(4-nitrophenyl) thiophene and 5,5'-bis(4-nitrophenyl)-2,2'-bithiophene was achieved. Cyclic Voltammogram (CV) and computational data fitting were used to estimate the kinetic parameters for the electrochemical oxidative homocoupling of thiophene compounds. A lambda max of 345 nm was observed for 2-(4-nitrophenyl) thiophene using UV-vis spectroscopy. Spectroelectrochemical measurements for the oxidation of 2-(4-nitrophenyl) thiophene show a decrease in the absorption at 375 nm and an increase in the absorption band red of 500 nm consistent with an oxidative homocoupling reaction to form 5,5'-bis(4-nitrophenyl)-2,2'-bithiophene.