Novel Effect of Man-Made Molecular Assemblies on Photoinduced Charge Separation. 3. Sensitized Photoreduction of Zwitterionic Viologen in the presence of Cationic Surfactants

Article abstract of DOI:10.1021/j100219a018

Addition of cationic surfactant at concentrations above the cmc drastically increased the efficiency of photoreduction of zwitterionic propylviologenesulfonate as sensitized by tris(2,2'-bipyridine)ruthenium complex, Ru(bpy)3²⁺, in the presence of triethanolamine (TEOA).The efficiency of net electron transfer in the quenching process was slightly improved by the addition of cationic surfactants.The lifetime of reduced viologens remarkably increased with increasing the concentrations of cationic surfactants.The electrostatic field due to the positively charged molecular assemblies such as micelles or lilayers were concluded to trap the reduced viologens and to prevent thermodinamically favored back-electron-transfer reactions.