Water-soluble fullerenol-mediated electron transfer in molecular systems toward enhanced solar hydrogen production

Abstract

We present here that visible-light-induced electron transfer from an excited dye to an in situ generated Pt cocatalyst can be promoted by employing water-soluble fullerenol (C₆₀(OH)₂₄) as an electron mediator, and as a result, the fullerenol-based molecular system shows a 3 times higher H₂ evolution activity than C₆₀(OH)₂₄-free system.