Pyridinethiolate-Capped CdSe Quantum Dots for Red-Light-Driven H₂ Production in Water

The utilization of low-energy sunlight to produce renewable fuels is a subject of great interest. Here we report the first example of metal chalcogenide quantum dots (QDs) capped with a pyridinethiolate carboxylic acid (pyS-COOH) for red-light-driven H₂ production in water. The precious-metal-free system is robust over 240 h, and achieves a turnover number (TON) of 43910±305 (vs Ni) with a rate of 31570±1690 μmol g^-1 h^-1 for hydrogen production. In contrast to the inactive QDs capped with other thiolate ligands, the CdSe-pyS-COOH QDs give a significantly higher singlet oxygen quantum yield [Φ_Δ (¹O₂)] in solution.