@phdthesis{GamachegebRupp2021,
  author    = {Gamache [geb. Rupp], Mira Theresa},
  title     = {Ligand Design for Ru(II) Photosensitizers in Photocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution},
  doi       = {10.25972/OPUS-24676},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-246766},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg},
  year      = {2021},
  abstract  = {This thesis investigates different ligand designs for Ru(II) complexes and the activity of the complexes as photosensitizer (PS) in photocatalytic hydrogen evolution. The catalytic system typically contains a catalyst, a sacrificial electron donor (SED) and a PS, which needs to exhibit strong absorption and luminescence, as well as reversible redox behavior. Electron-withdrawing pyridine substituents on the terpyridine metal ion receptor result in an increase of excited-state lifetime and quantum yield (Φ = 74*10-5; τ = 3.8 ns) and lead to complex III-C1 exhibiting activity as PS. While the turn-over frequency (TOFmax) and turn-over number (TON) are relatively low (TOFmax = 57 mmolH2 molPS-1 min-1; TON(44 h) = 134 mmolH2 molPS-1), the catalytic system is long-lived, losing only 20\% of its activity over the course of 12 days. Interestingly, the heteroleptic design in III-C1 proves to be beneficial for the performance as PS, despite III-C1 having comparable photophysical and electrochemical properties as the homoleptic complex IV-C2 (TOFmax = 35 mmolH2 molPS-1 min-1; TON(24 h) = 14 mmolH2 molPS-1). Reductive quenching of the excited PS by the SED is identified as rate-limiting step in both cases. Hence, the ligands are designed to be more electron-accepting either via N-methylation of the peripheral pyridine substituents or introduction of a pyrimidine ring in the metal ion receptor, leading to increased excited-state lifetimes (τ = 9-40 ns) and luminescence quantum yields (Φ = 40-400*10-5). However, the more electron-accepting character of the ligands also results in anodically shifted reduction potentials, leading to a lack of driving force for the electron transfer from the reduced PS to the catalyst. Hence, this electron transfer step is found to be a limiting factor to the overall performance of the PS. While higher TOFmax in hydrogen evolution experiments are observed for pyrimidine-containing PS (TOFmax = 300-715 mmolH2 molPS-1 min-1), the longevity for these systems is reduced with half-life times of 2-6 h. Expansion of the pyrimidine-containing ligands to dinuclear complexes yields a stronger absorptivity (ε = 100-135*103 L mol-1 cm-1), increased luminescence (τ = 90-125 ns, Φ = 210-350*10-5) and can also result in higher TOFmax given sufficient driving force for electron transfer to the catalyst (TOFmax = 1500 mmolH2 molPS-1 min-1). When comparing complexes with similar driving forces, stronger luminescence is reflected in a higher TOFmax. Besides thermodynamic considerations, kinetic effects and electron transfer efficiency are assumed to impact the observed activity in hydrogen evolution. In summary, this work shows that targeted ligand design can make the previously disregarded group of Ru(II) complexes with tridentate ligands attractive candidates for use as PS in photocatalytic hydrogen evolution.},
  subject      = {Fotokatalyse},
  language  = {en}
}