A new medium for triplet–triplet annihilated upconversion and photocatalytic application

Since the triplet-triplet annihilated upconversion (TTA-UC) materials work efficiently only in degassing organic solvents, it is of significance to find a new medium without toxicity and volatility and that promotes TTA-UC. Here, we firstly reported the effect of an OH-containing medium on low power upconversion and found that in alcohol solvent containing β-cyclodextrin (β-CD), the phosphorescence lifetime (τp) of the sensitizer (PdTPP) and the fluorescence quantum yield (Φf) of the acceptor (DPA) were enhanced with the increase in the number of OH-groups of the medium. A large triplet-triplet quenching constant (kq, 1.91 × 10(9) M(-1) s(-1)) and high upconversion efficiency (ΦUC, ∼ 36%) of PdTPP/DPA were obtained under the excitation of a diode laser (532 nm, 60 mW cm(-2)). Under our green-to-blue upconversion irradiation, in a demonstration experiment the photocurrent was recorded at 0.09 μA cm(-2), resulting from photocatalytic water splitting by a Cd0.7Zn0.3S photoanode and a Pt counter-electrode in a photoelectrochemical cell. The importance of this study suggests that upconversion-powered photoelectrochemistry possesses potential application for hydrogen generation from water under excitation of sun energy.