Manipulation of supramolecular 2D assembly of functional dyes toward artificial light-harvesting systems

In recent years, excellent research has revealed that light-harvesting systems (LHSs) are composed of beautifully aligned chlorophyll molecules; the regulated alignment of chlorophylls is responsible for the efficient and selective light-harvesting energy transfer processes in purple bacteria. This finding led to the construction of a regularly arranged assembly of functional dyes as a step toward fabricating artificial LHSs. While most approaches toward the construction of dye assemblies have depended on molecular interactions such as covalent, coordination, and hydrogen bonds, my approach involves guest-host interactions using an inorganic nanosheet as the host material. This short review presents the construction of a 2D dye assembly and its effective utilization in artificial light-harvesting applications. Owing to the highly stable and uniform 2D alignment of functional dyes on inorganic nanosheets, nearly 100 % singlet-singlet energy transfer and efficient light-harvesting were achieved. I believe that the results presented herein will contribute to the construction of efficient photochemical reaction systems in supramolecular host-guest assemblies, which may facilitate the realization of artificial photosynthesis.