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Theoretical Investigation of the Electron‐Transfer Dynamics and Photodegradation Pathways in a Hydrogen‐Evolving Ruthenium–Palladium Photocatalyst
Author(s) -
Staniszewska Magdalena,
Kupfer Stephan,
Guthmuller Julien
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
chemistry – a european journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.687
H-Index - 242
eISSN - 1521-3765
pISSN - 0947-6539
DOI - 10.1002/chem.201801698
Subject(s) - ruthenium , dissociation (chemistry) , catalysis , photochemistry , chemistry , electron transfer , density functional theory , photocatalysis , excitation , photodegradation , chemical physics , relaxation (psychology) , atomic physics , computational chemistry , physics , biochemistry , quantum mechanics , psychology , social psychology
Time‐dependent density functional theory calculations combined with the Marcus theory of electron transfer (ET) were applied on the molecular photocatalyst [(tbbpy) 2 Ru(tpphz)PdCl 2 ] 2+ in order to elucidate the light‐induced relaxation pathways populated upon excitation in the longer wavelength range of its absorption spectrum. The computational results show that after the initial excitation, metal (Ru) to ligand (tpphz) charge transfer (MLCT) triplet states are energetically accessible, but that an ET toward the catalytic center (PdCl 2 ) from these states is a slow process, with estimated time constants above 1 ns. Instead, the calculations predict that low‐lying Pd‐centered states are efficiently populated—associated to an energy transfer toward the catalytic center. Thus, it is postulated that these states lead to the dissociation of a Cl − and are consequently responsible for the experimentally observed degradation of the catalytic center. Following dissociation, it is shown that the ET rates from the MLCT states to the charge separated states are significantly increased (i.e. 10 4 –10 6 times larger). This demonstrates that alteration of the catalytic center generates efficient charge separation.