Photoinduced Energy Transfer from Poly( N ‐vinylcarbazole) to Tricarbonylchloro‐(2,2′‐bipyridyl)rhenium(I)

This work investigates the photoinduced energy transfer from poly( N ‐vinylcarbazole) (PVK), as a donor material, to fac ‐(2,2′‐bipyridyl)Re(CO) 3 Cl, as a catalyst acceptor, for its potential application towards CO 2 reduction. Photoluminescence quenching experiments reveal dynamic quenching through resonance energy transfer in solid donor/acceptor mixtures and in solid/liquid systems. The bimolecular reaction rate constant at solution–film interfaces for the elementary reaction of the excited state with the quencher material could be determined as 8.8(±1.4)×10 11  L mol −1  s −1 by using Stern–Volmer analysis. This work shows that PVK is an effective and cheap absorber material that can act efficiently as a redox photosensitizer in combination with fac ‐(2,2′‐bipyridyl)Re(CO) 3 Cl as a catalyst acceptor, which might lead to possible applications in photocatalytic CO 2 reduction.