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Pigment–Acceptor–Catalyst Triads for Photochemical Hydrogen Evolution
Author(s) -
Kitamoto Kyoji,
Sakai Ken
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
angewandte chemie international edition
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.831
H-Index - 550
eISSN - 1521-3773
pISSN - 1433-7851
DOI - 10.1002/anie.201311209
Subject(s) - artificial photosynthesis , economic shortage , photosynthesis , water splitting , photochemistry , catalysis , ton , fossil fuel , photocatalysis , hydrogen , acceptor , chemistry , materials science , physics , biology , organic chemistry , linguistics , philosophy , biochemistry , government (linguistics) , fishery , condensed matter physics
In order to solve the problems of global warming and shortage of fossil fuels, researchers have been endeavoring to achieve artificial photosynthesis: splitting water into H 2 and O 2 under solar light illumination. Our group has recently invented a unique system that drives photoinduced water reduction through “Z‐scheme” photosynthetic pathways. Nevertheless, that system still suffered from a low turnover number (TON) of the photocatalytic cycle (TON=4.1). We have now found and describe herein a new methodology to make significant improvements in the TON, up to around TON=14–27. For the new model systems reported herein, the quantum efficiency of the second photoinduced step in the Z‐scheme photosynthesis is dramatically improved by introducing multiviologen tethers to temporarily collect the high‐energy electron generated in the first photoinduced step. These are unique examples of “pigment–acceptor–catalyst triads”, which demonstrate a new effective type of artificial photosynthesis.