Photochemical Fate: The First Step Determines Efficiency of H2 Formation with a Supramolecular Photocatalyst

摘要

The photocatalytic splitting of water into molecular hydrogen and oxygen using sunlight represents a promising solution to the looming energy crisis. Despite this potential no large-scale technical processes have been developed. However, each green leaf accomplishes the photocatalytic splitting of water at ambient temperature and low light intensities—an example that provides incentive. Only in the last 20 years has detailed information become available on the structure and the function of the complex molecular apparatus and its subunits, which enable this feat. Based on these insights the development of artificial photochemical molecular devices (PMDs) for photoinduced water splitting is feasible, in which a photoredox-active center is linked to a reaction center through a redox-active bridge.