Light-induced charge separation in a donor–chromophore–acceptor nanocomposite poly[TPA-Ru(tpy)2]@ZnO

The synthesis and characterisation of a new donor–chromophore–acceptor system based on poly(vinyltriphenylamine) as the electron donor and a glycine-functionalised bis(2,2′;6′,2′′-terpyridine)ruthenium(II) complex acting both as a chromophore and as an anchor group attached to ZnO nanorods as the electron acceptor are described. The TPA-containing block copolymer was synthesised by Reversible Addition Fragmentation Chain Transfer (RAFT) polymerisation and the ruthenium complex glycine conjugates prepared by Solid Phase Peptide Synthesis (SPPS) were attached via post-polymerisation esterification. GPC, NMR, IR and UV-Visible spectroscopy were used to characterise the multifunctional chromoph…