Abstract
A donor–acceptor–donor (D–A–D) dye consisting of ferrocene units (donors) and a benzothiadiazole unit (acceptor) was synthesized to use the photosensitizer for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) from water within semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotube (s-SWCNT). The dye was easily encapsulated into s-SWCNT by a solution method to form dye-encapsulated s-SWCNTs (dye@SWCNTs). Subsequently, physical modification of dye@SWCNTs by a fullerodendron gave dye@SWCNT/fullerodendron nanohybrids having dye/s-SWCNT/C60 coaxial heterojunction. Interestingly, dye@SWCNT/fullerodendron nanohybrids act as the photosensitizer for HER in the presence of sacrificial donor, electron relay, and co-catalyst due to the mobile carrier generation upon photoexcitation of the dye molecules.
Graphical Abstract
![](/cms/asset/e41d653c-7852-40e5-8059-695a63d6c278/gpss_a_1603716_uf0001_c.jpg)
Acknowledgments
This work was partially supported by JSPS KAKENHI grants 15H03519 (Y. T.) and 16K05895 (T. T.).