Visualization of Metal-to-Ligand and Ligand-to-Ligand Charge Transfer in MetaloLigand Complexes

Three methods including the atomic resolved density of state, charge difference density, and the transition density matrix are used to visualize metal to ligand charge transfer （MLCT） in ruthenium（II） ammine complex. The atomic resolved density of state shows that there is density of Ru on the HOMOs. All the density is localized on the ammine, which reveals that the excited electrons in the Ru complex are delocalized over the ammine ligand. The charge difference density shows that all the holes are localized on the Ru and the electrons on the ammine. The localization explains the MLCT on excitation. The transition density matrix shows that there is electron-hole coherence between Ru and ammine. These methods are also used to examine the MLCT in Os（bpy）2（p0p）Cl （＂Osp0p＂： bpy=2,2-bipyrldyl; p0p=4,4＇- bipyridyl） and the ligand-to-ligand charge transfer （LLCT） in Alq3. The calculated results show that these methods are powerful to examine MLCT and LLCT in the metal-ligand system.

Development of a bismuth-based metal-organic framework for photocatalytic hydrogen production

A novel 3 D bismuth-organic framework(called Bi-TBAPy) single crystal was synthesized by employing 1,3,6,8-tetrakis(p-benzoic acid)pyrene(H4TBAPy) as an organic linker. The study demonstrates that the Bi-TBAPy not only possesses good chemical stability and suitable band edge positions for promising photocatalytic H2 evolution, but it also exhibits a typical ligand-to-metal charge transfer for favorable charge separation. The photocatalytic H2 evolution rates on the as-obtained Bi-TBAPy with different cocatalysts modified were examined with triethanolamine as the sacrificial reagent. Based on this, the hydrogen evolution rate of 140 μmol h-1 g-1 was obtained on the optimized sample with a loading of 2 wt% Pt as a cocatalyst. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first bismuth-based metal-organic framework(MOF) that functions as an effective photocatalyst for photocatalytic water reduction. Our study not only adds a new member to the family of photocatalyst materials, but also reveals the importance of cocatalyst modification in improving photocatalytic activity of MOFs.