Synthesis, characterization, redox properties, and photodynamics of donor-acceptor nanohybrids composed of size-controlled cup-shaped nanocarbons and porphyrins

Masataka Ohtani, Kenji Saito, Shunichi Fukuzumi

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17 Scopus citations

Abstract

Cup-shaped nanocarbons (CNC) generated by the electron-transfer reduction of cup-stacked carbon nanotubes have been functionalized with porphyrins (H 2P) as light-capturing chromophores. The resulting donor-acceptor nanohybrid has been characterized by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), Raman and IR spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, elemental analysis, and UV/Vis spectroscopy. The weight of the porphyrins attached to the cup-shaped nanocarbons was determined as 20% by TGA and elemental analysis. The UV/Vis absorption spectrum of CNC-(H2P)n in DMF agrees well with that obtained by the superposition of reference porphyrin (ref-H2P) and cupshaped nanocarbons. The photoexcitation of the CNC-(H2P)n nanohybrid results in formation of the charge-separated (CS) state to attain the longest CS lifetime (0.64 ± 0.01 ms) ever reported for donor-acceptor nanohybrids, which may arise from efficient electron migration following the charge séparation. The formation of a radical ion pair was detected directly by electron spin resonance (ESR) measurements under photoirradiation of CNC(H 2P)n with a high-pressure mercury lamp in frozen DMF at 153 K. The observed ESR signal at g = 2.0044 agrees with that of TCf-H 2P"1" produced by one-electron oxidation with [Ru(bpy) 3]3+ in deaerated CHCl3, indicating the formation of H2P"1". The electron-acceptor ability of the reference CNC compound (ref-CNC) was also examined by the electron-transfer reduction of ref-CNC by a series of semiquinone radical anions.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)9160-9168
Number of pages9
JournalChemistry - A European Journal
Volume15
Issue number36
DOIs
StatePublished - 14 Sep 2009

Keywords

  • Donor-acceptor systems
  • Electron transfer
  • Nanotubes porphyrinoids
  • Redox chemistry

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