Review—Tetraruthenated Porphyrins and Composites as Catalysts and Sensor Materials: A Short Review

Abstract

Electrocatalytic and photocatalytic materials for energy and sensor applications are among the most relevant ones to overcome the challenges for a sustainable society. In this context, metalloporphyrins and transition metal complexes are known to exhibit interesting complimentary properties that can be combined to provide synergic effects, which was achieved in what so called tetraruthenated porphyrins and derivatives. The properties of these supramolecular species can be tuned based on the transition metal ion coordinated to the porphyrin, the ruthenium complex and especially the electronic coupling between those species conferring enhanced photoelectrochemical activity for conversion of carbon dioxide in valuable reduced species, or nitrite/nitrate to less harmful species. Another major application was shown to be as sensor materials for several substrates, generating more sensitive and robust devices. However, such a coordination chemistry strategy is evolving leading to new composite, polymeric and hybrids materials based on carbon nanomaterials, as well as 2D and 3D porous materials, opening new perspectives on supramolecular porphyrin chemistry powered by the versatile coordination chemistry of transition metal ions and clusters. This short review revisits the interesting spectroelectrochemistry and applications of tetraruthenated porphyrins, expanding to the most recent works pointing towards auspicious new outcomes in near future.