Shedding Light on the Nature of Photoinduced States Formed in a Hydrogen-Generating Supramolecular RuPt Photocatalyst by Ultrafast Spectroscopy

Photoinduced electronic and structural changes of a hydrogen generating supramolecular RuPt photocatalyst are studied by a combination of time-resolved photoluminescence, optical transient absorption, and X-ray absorption spectroscopy. This work uses the element specificity of X-ray techniques to focus on the interplay between the photophysical and-chemical processes and the associated time scales at the catalytic Pt moiety.

We observe very fast (10 mu s time scale. However, the photosensitizing Ru moiety is fully restored on a much shorter similar to 300 ns time scale. This reaction scheme implies that we may withdraw two electrons from activated by a single photon.