The organic chromophore, 2,2′-(benzo[c][1,2,5]thiadiazole-4,7-diyl)bis(thiophene-3-carboxylic acid), was prepared and investigated along with metal complex [Ru(bda)(pyP)2] (bda = 2,2’-bipyridine-6,6’-dicarboxylate; pyP = 3-(pyridine-4-yloxy)propyl)phosphonic acid), for light-driven water splitting in dye-sensitized photoelectrochemical cells. The resulting co-loaded organic chromophore plus catalyst surface assembly was evaluated by photocurrent transient measurement and direct O2 detection using a collector-generator cell. The complete SnO2/TiO2 core/shell based photoanode exhibited an enhanced photocurrent compared to that with only the chromophore. A modest Faradaic efficiency of 12% was recorded for O2 generation under 1 sun illumination.
Eom, Y. K.; Nhon, L.; Leem, G.; Sherman, B. D.; Wang, D.; Troian-Gautier, L.; Kim, S.; Kim, J.; Meyer, T. J.; Reynolds, J. R.; Schanze, K. S. Visible-Light Driven Photocatalytic Water Oxidation by a π-Conjugated Donor-Acceptor-Donor Chromophore/Catalyst Assembly. ACS Energy Lett. 2018, 3 (9), 2114-2119. http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acsenergylett.8b01020