Tunable-pH Environment Induced by Local Anchor Effect of High Lewis Basicity Conductive Polymers toward Glycerol Upgrading Assisted Hydrogen Evolution

Hybrid organic/inorganic composites with the organic phase tailored to modulate the local chemical environment at the transition metal-based catalyst surface arise as an enchanting category of catalysts for electrocatalysis. A fundamental understanding of how the conductive polymers of different Lewis basicities affect the reaction path is, however, still lacking to guide rational catalyst design. Herein, polyaniline (PANI), poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT), and poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) manifesting different Lewis basicities are compared for their regulatory roles on the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and glycerol electrooxidation (GOR) pathways regarding local proton coverage. Concerted efforts from in situ Raman and DFT theoretical calculations unveil that conductive polymer/V