Copper(II)-based electrocatalysts for water oxidation in aqueous solution have been studied previously, but photodriving these systems still remains a challenge. In this work, a bis(diimine)copper(I)-based donor–chromophore–acceptor system is synthesized and applied as the light-harvesting component of a photoanode. This molecular assembly was integrated onto a zinc oxide nanowire surface, and upon photoexcitation, chronoamperometric studies reveal that the integrated triad can inject electrons directly into the conduction band of zinc oxide, generating oxidizing equivalents that are then transferred to a copper(II) water oxidation catalyst in aqueous solution, yielding O₂ from water with a Faradaic efficiency of 76%.

中文翻译：

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用于水氧化的分子铜（I）-铜（II）光敏剂-催化剂光电极。

先前已经研究了用于水溶液中水氧化的铜（II）基电催化剂，但是光驱动这些系统仍然是一个挑战。在这项工作中，合成了基于双（二亚胺）铜（I）的供体-发色团-受体系统，并将其用作光阳极的光收集组件。该分子组装体被整合到氧化锌纳米线表面，并且在光激发下，计时电流分析显示，整合的三合会可以将电子直接注入氧化锌的导带中，产生氧化当量，然后被转移到铜（II）水氧化中水溶液中的催化剂，从水中产生O ₂，法拉第效率为76％。