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Iron sensitizer converts light to electrons with 92% yield.

Harlang, Tobias LU ; Liu, Yizhu LU ; Gordivska, Olga LU ; Fredin, Lisa LU ; Ponseca, Carlito LU ; Huang, Ping ; Chabera, Pavel LU ; Kjaer, Kasper LU ; Mateos, Helena and Uhlig, Jens LU , et al. (2015) In Nature Chemistry 7(11). p.883-889
Abstract
Solar energy conversion in photovoltaics or photocatalysis involves light harvesting, or sensitization, of a semiconductor or catalyst as a first step. Rare elements are frequently used for this purpose, but they are obviously not ideal for large-scale implementation. Great efforts have been made to replace the widely used ruthenium with more abundant analogues like iron, but without much success due to the very short-lived excited states of the resulting iron complexes. Here, we describe the development of an iron-nitrogen-heterocyclic-carbene sensitizer with an excited-state lifetime that is nearly a thousand-fold longer than that of traditional iron polypyridyl complexes. By the use of electron paramagnetic resonance, transient... (More)
Solar energy conversion in photovoltaics or photocatalysis involves light harvesting, or sensitization, of a semiconductor or catalyst as a first step. Rare elements are frequently used for this purpose, but they are obviously not ideal for large-scale implementation. Great efforts have been made to replace the widely used ruthenium with more abundant analogues like iron, but without much success due to the very short-lived excited states of the resulting iron complexes. Here, we describe the development of an iron-nitrogen-heterocyclic-carbene sensitizer with an excited-state lifetime that is nearly a thousand-fold longer than that of traditional iron polypyridyl complexes. By the use of electron paramagnetic resonance, transient absorption spectroscopy, transient terahertz spectroscopy and quantum chemical calculations, we show that the iron complex generates photoelectrons in the conduction band of titanium dioxide with a quantum yield of 92% from the (3)MLCT (metal-to-ligand charge transfer) state. These results open up possibilities to develop solar energy-converting materials based on abundant elements. (Less)
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organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Nature Chemistry
volume
7
issue
11
pages
883 - 889
publisher
Nature Publishing Group
external identifiers
  • pmid:26492008
  • wos:000363468600009
  • scopus:84945130427
ISSN
1755-4330
DOI
10.1038/nchem.2365
language
English
LU publication?
yes
additional info
The information about affiliations in this record was updated in December 2015. The record was previously connected to the following departments: Centre for Analysis and Synthesis (011001266), Theoretical Chemistry (S) (011001039), Chemical Physics (S) (011001060)
id
af5004fe-fc39-4884-a182-fac078750804 (old id 8148634)
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 10:28:32
date last changed
2023-11-09 21:45:36
@article{af5004fe-fc39-4884-a182-fac078750804,
  abstract     = {{Solar energy conversion in photovoltaics or photocatalysis involves light harvesting, or sensitization, of a semiconductor or catalyst as a first step. Rare elements are frequently used for this purpose, but they are obviously not ideal for large-scale implementation. Great efforts have been made to replace the widely used ruthenium with more abundant analogues like iron, but without much success due to the very short-lived excited states of the resulting iron complexes. Here, we describe the development of an iron-nitrogen-heterocyclic-carbene sensitizer with an excited-state lifetime that is nearly a thousand-fold longer than that of traditional iron polypyridyl complexes. By the use of electron paramagnetic resonance, transient absorption spectroscopy, transient terahertz spectroscopy and quantum chemical calculations, we show that the iron complex generates photoelectrons in the conduction band of titanium dioxide with a quantum yield of 92% from the (3)MLCT (metal-to-ligand charge transfer) state. These results open up possibilities to develop solar energy-converting materials based on abundant elements.}},
  author       = {{Harlang, Tobias and Liu, Yizhu and Gordivska, Olga and Fredin, Lisa and Ponseca, Carlito and Huang, Ping and Chabera, Pavel and Kjaer, Kasper and Mateos, Helena and Uhlig, Jens and Lomoth, Reiner and Wallenberg, Reine and Styring, Stenbjörn and Persson, Petter and Sundström, Villy and Wärnmark, Kenneth}},
  issn         = {{1755-4330}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{11}},
  pages        = {{883--889}},
  publisher    = {{Nature Publishing Group}},
  series       = {{Nature Chemistry}},
  title        = {{Iron sensitizer converts light to electrons with 92% yield.}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nchem.2365}},
  doi          = {{10.1038/nchem.2365}},
  volume       = {{7}},
  year         = {{2015}},
}