Singlet oxygen generation on a superhydrophobic surface: Effect of photosensitizer coating and incident wavelength on ¹O₂ yields

Photochemical generation of singlet oxygen (¹O₂) often relies on homogenous systems; however, a dissolved photosensitizer (PS) may be unsuitable for some applications because it is difficult to recover, expensive to replenish, and hazardous to the environment. Isolation of the PS onto a solid support can overcome these limitations, but implementation faces other challenges, including agglomeration of the solid PS, physical quenching of ¹O₂ by the support, photooxidation of the PS, and hypoxic environments. Here, we explore a superhydrophobic polydimethylsiloxane (SH‐PDMS) support coated with the photosensitizer 5,10,15,20‐tetrakis(pentafluorophenyl)‐21H,23H‐porphyrin (TFPP). This approach seeks to address the challenges of a heterogeneous system by using a support that exhibits low ¹O₂ physical quenching rates, a fluorinated PS that is chemically resistant to photooxidation, and a superhydrophobic surface that entraps a layer of air, thus preventing hypoxia. Absorbance and fluorescence spectroscopy reveal the monomeric arrangement of TFPP on SH‐PDMS surfaces, a surprising but favorable characteristic for a solid‐phase PS on ¹O₂ yields. We also investigated the effect of incident wavelength on ¹O₂ yields for TFPP in aqueous solution and immobilized on SH‐PDMS and found overall yields to be dependent on the absorption coefficient, while the yield per absorbed photon exhibited wavelength independence, in accordance with Kasha‐Vavilov's rule.