Journal of Physical Chemistry B, Vol.104, No.3, 468-474, 2000
Diffusion-controlled charge transfer from excited Ru(bpy)(3)(2+) into nanosized TiO2 colloids stabilized with EDTA
Transparent colloidal TiO2 was prepared in aqueous EDTA solution. The average particle size was 7 nm, measured by TEM. In the presence of EDTA, the colloids were stable within a pH range from 2 to 10. In contrast to previous observations involving Ru(bpy)(3)(2+) and TiO2 where no emission quenching occurred up to pH 10, an efficient quenching of the excited Ru(bpy)(3)(2+) ((MLCT)-M-3) by the colloidal TiO2 was obtained in the presence of EDTA. A detailed kinetics investigation by laser flash photolysis showed the quenching process to be diffusion-controlled. The fact that not all the excited-state population returned to the ground state in a simple exponential process led to the conclusion that Ru(bpy)(3)(3+) was being formed and the quenching was by injection of electrons into the colloid. The overall quantum yield of formation of Ru(bpy)(3)(3+) was increased from 5.8% to 12.9% as the ionic strength increased from 0.1 to 1.5 M at pH 2.8. It was concluded that the increase in ionic strength weakens the electrostatic interaction between the geminate redox photoproducts Ru(bpy)(3)(3+)... e(-)(TiO2) and hence promotes the cage release of Ru(bpy)(3)(3+). With increases in temperature, both the charge-transfer (triplet quenching) rate and the release of the geminate species Ru(bpy)(3)(3+)... e(-)(TiO2) were enhanced. The activation energy for the former process was measured as 22.0 +/- 0.3 kJ mol(-1). consistent with the typical values (8-25 kJ mol(-1)) reported for the diffusion-controlled reactions in homogeneous solutions. For the separation of the geminate species, a lower activation energy of 7.1 +/- 0.5 kJ mol(-1) was evaluated, implying a typical diffusion-controlled process. A detailed pH dependence study indicated that the charge-transfer rate increased as the pH decreased below 6, while at pH > 6 no charge transfer could be observed. This is surmised to be due to driving force dependence.
Keywords:INTERFACIAL ELECTRON-TRANSFER;CAGE ESCAPE YIELDS;PARTICULATESYSTEMS;SEMICONDUCTOR DISPERSIONS;PHOTOSENSITIZED REDUCTION;HYDROGEN-PRODUCTION;AQUEOUS-SOLUTION;METHYL VIOLOGEN;KOLBEREACTION;CATIONIC DYES