Work

Structural Gating Enhances Long-Distance Light-Driven Interfacial Electron Transfer

Year: 2024

Type: article

Abstract: High Resolution Image Download MS PowerPoint Slide Structural gating provides a molecular means to transfer electrons preferentially in one desired vectorial direction, a behavior needed for applications in artificial photosynthesis. At the interfaces utilized herein, visible-light absorption by a transition metal complex opens a “structural gate” by planarization of otherwise rotating phenyl rings in p- phenylene ethynylene (PE) bridge units. Planarization provides a conjugated pathway for electron flow toward a conductive oxide surface. Interfacial electron transfer to the oxide restores rotation and closes the gate to the unwanted recombination reaction. This structural gating results in nearly quantitative long-distance (>20 Å) interfacial electron transfer that occurs ∼1000 times faster than transfer in the opposite direction. A comparative kinetic study of these complexes with those that contain ionic bridge units, without gating function, as a function of the applied potential and hence −Δ G ° provided a physical basis for the structural gating. A small distance-dependent reorganization energy with weak electronic coupling underlies the success of this gate that enables efficient long-distance electron transfer and slow recombination.

Source: ACS Central Science

DOI: 10.1021/acscentsci.4c01106