진학프로석·박사 채용 접수 플랫폼

Harnessing solar energy to sustainably produce chemicals using supramolecular assemblies is a highly active area of contemporary research. The underlying concept involves combining a photosensitizer (PS) that, upon solar irradiation, transfers electrons to a covalently linked catalyst (Cat) with a defined reactivity. Ruthenium and iridium complexes are currently benchmark PSs due to their outstanding photophysical and redox properties. Given the high cost and low natural abundance of these metals, the development of sustainable PSs based on Earth-abundant metals has become increasingly important. In this context, implementing photo(electro)catalysis with Fe-based complexes would represent a major advance. Unfortunately, compared with Ru(II) analogues, Fe(II) complexes typically exhibit much shorter-lived metal-to-ligand charge transfer (MLCT) states because they undergo ultrafast relaxation to metal-centred (MC) states, which rapidly decay back to the ground state. However, the past decade has seen remarkable progress in overcoming these limitations. Carefully designed ligands with tailored electronic properties have significantly improved the excited-state lifetimes of classical polypyridine Fe complexes, reaching the nanosecond regime.

The PhD project aligns with these long-term goals by advancing photocatalytic processes using sustainable materials. Its objective is to improve Fe(II) photophysics and to develop covalent push–pull, noble-metal-free Fephot–Cucat dyads photocatalysts for the benchmark oxidation of organic substrates. The project will focus particularly on the design and optimization of Fephot units to promote fast and efficient charge transfer to Cucat.