Non-covalently linked donor-acceptor interaction enhancing photocatalytic hydrogen evolution from porphyrin assembly

The separation of photogenerated excitons plays a crucial role in initiating high-efficiency photocatalysis of organic semiconductors. Herein, a non-covalent donor-acceptor (D-A) structure composed of tetrakis (4-car-boxyphenyl) zinc porphyrin (ZnTCPP) linked to ethylenediamine functionalized fullerene (C60-EDA) by elec-trostatic interaction was successfully developed. Due to D-A interaction, an efficient electron transfer channel from ZnTCPP to C60-EDA was established, resulting in a charge-separated state with appreciable lifetime. Accordingly, the photogenerated excitons separation got considerably improved and charge-carrier exhibited faster migration to the surface of D-A assembly. ZnTCPP/C60-EDA presented efficient photocatalytic H2 evolution of 113.5 mu mol h-1 under full spectrum, 3.9 times higher that of pure ZnTCPP. This work offers valuable insight into the non-covalent D-A construction for enhanced photocatalytic performance.

Automated summary

The non-covalent donor-acceptor structure composed of ZnTCPP and C60-EDA showed improved separation of photogenerated excitons, resulting in enhanced photocatalytic performance for H2 evolution. The efficient electron transfer channel between ZnTCPP and C60-EDA contributed to the charge separation and faster migration of charge-carriers. The photocatalytic activity of ZnTCPP/C60-EDA for H2 evolution was 113.5 mu mol h-1, which was 3.9 times higher than that of pure ZnTCPP. This work provides valuable insights into non-covalent D-A construction for enhanced photocatalysis.