N-Doped graphene/C60 covalent hybrid as a new material for energy harvesting applicationsElectronic supplementary information (ESI) available: Experimental and synthetic procedures and compound characterization data, along with Fig. S1-S10 and Tables S1 and S2. See DOI: 10.1039/c8sc02013b

• Main Authors: Barrejón, Myriam, Arellano, Luis M, Gobeze, Habtom B, Gómez-Escalonilla, María J, Fierro, Jose Luis G, D'Souza, Francis, Langa, Fernando
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 07-11-2018
• ISSN: 2041-6520; 2041-6539
• DOI: 10.1039/c8sc02013b

N-Doped graphene (N-G) was chemically functionalized by
N
-alkylation with the well-known electron acceptor C
60
. The degree of functionalization and the key structural features of the N-G/C
60
hybrid were systematically investigated by a number of techniques including thermogravimetric analysis, X-ray photoelectron and Raman spectroscopies and transmission electron and atomic force microscopies. Absorption and electrochemical studies revealed interactions between the N-G and C
60
while the fluorescence of C
60
within the hybrid was found to be fully quenched. Evidence for the occurrence of excited state charge transfer from the singlet excited C
60
to N-G in the hybrid was obtained from femtosecond transient absorption studies covering the visible-near-IR regions. Electron-pooling experiments performed in the presence of a sacrificial electron donor and a second electron acceptor, methyl viologen, revealed the accumulation of the one-electron reduced product of methyl viologen upon continuous irradiation of the N-G/C
60
nanohybrid, thus revealing the utility of this material in photocatalytic energy harvesting applications.
N-Doped graphene (N-G) has been covalently functionalized on the nitrogen with a C
60
derivative. Photophysical studies of the new hybrid and electron pooling experiments reveal the utility of this material in photocatalytic energy harvesting applications.