Synergistic Water Oxidation with Low-Energy Light via Ru(bda)(pic)2 and a Tetranuclear Ruthenium Dendrimer

The synergistic combination of the ruthenium-based tetranuclear dendrimer photosensitizer with the highly efficient water oxidation catalyst Ru(bda)(pic)2 enables effective water oxidation under low-energy light irradiation in phosphate buffer 20 mM/acetonitrile 3% (pH 7). This study demonstrates that the integrated system can produce a significant amount of oxygen using visible light at wavelengths greater than 650 nm (up to 160 nmol), achieving quite good turnover number (3.5 × 10−3), high quantum yields (0.23) and enhanced stability. These results highlight the potential of this approach to efficiently drive solar water splitting for fuel production, even with low-energy illumination, thereby advancing the development of sustainable photochemical systems for solar energy conversion.