A novel platform to study the photoinduced electron transfer at a dye-sensitized solid/liquid interface

Abstract Photoinduced electron transfer with the electron donor–acceptor linked system of zinc-5,10,15,20-tetraphenylporphyrin (ZnTPP) as donor and benzoquinone (BQ) as acceptor was designed to mimic the electron transfer process in photosynthetic reaction center. Within the framework of the bimolecular electron transfer mechanisms of scanning electrochemical microscopy (SECM), the fundamental features of photoinduced electron transfer were demonstrated by recording the feedback approach curves under different light wavelength, intensity, and concentration of BQ. Meanwhile, relevant theoretical study was employed to support our proposal. It demonstrated that SECM as a new platform could also provide crucial information for simple simulation of the electron transfer process in photosynthetic reaction center.