Photoinduced Energy Transfer from Poly(N-vinylcarbazole) to Tricarbonylchloro-(2,2'-bipyridyl)rhenium(I)

This work investigates the photoinduced energy transfer from poly(N-vinylcarbazole) (PVK), as a donor material, to fac-(2,2'-bipyridyl)Re(CO)(3)Cl, as a catalyst acceptor, for its potential application towards CO(2) reduction. Photoluminescence quenching experiments reveal dynamic quenching through resonance energy transfer in solid donor/acceptor mixtures and in solid/liquid systems. The bimolecular reaction rate constant at solution–film interfaces for the elementary reaction of the excited state with the quencher material could be determined as 8.8(±1.4)×10(11) L mol(−1) s(−1) by using Stern–Volmer analysis. This work shows that PVK is an effective and cheap absorber material that can act efficiently as a redox photosensitizer in combination with fac-(2,2'-bipyridyl)Re(CO)(3)Cl as a catalyst acceptor, which might lead to possible applications in photocatalytic CO(2) reduction.