Photoactive Dendrimers as molecular antennae coupled to metallic nanoparticles

The research project is focussed on the conversion of solar energy into chemical energy: to reach this goal, the first step is solar light harvesting. Main goal of the work done by this research unit is indeed the design and characterization of artificial molecular antennae, i.e. multicomponent systems where several chromophores absorb light and funnel the electronic energy toward a single common acceptor. The originality of the present project consists in coupling the tasks of molecular antennae and metal nanoparticle containers by dendrimers. The obtained photoactive dendrimers will be employed in the hydrogen production by water photolysis in the presence, at least in the first stage, of a sacrificial reagent