Enrolling reactive oxygen species in photon-to-chemical energy conversion: fundamentals, technological advances, and applications

ABSTRACT

In theory, oxygen (O₂) is an ideal chemical reagent because of its high relative abundance and negligible environmental toxicity. In practice however, by the nature of its ground state electronic configuration, many chemical reactions involving O₂ are spin forbidden which dramatically decreases its reactivity and thus its utility in applications. More reactive forms of O₂ can be achieved by changing its electronic configuration through the use of photochemical and photophysical methods. This review highlights the roll of photon-to-chemical energy conversion in two of these reactive oxygen species (ROS): superoxide (O₂⁻) and singlet oxygen (¹O₂), which can be accessed through a number of photochemical methods and used in a variety of exciting applications. The theory behind ROS is introduced as produced using light irradiation. Then applications of these methods for chemical transformations are explored.

GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT

Keywords:

• Oxygen
• Singlet-oxygen
• Photocatalysis
• Photosensitizer

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Science Foundation [1800599].