Artificial light-harvesting dendritic system with sequential energy transfer and ultrahigh antenna effect for efficient photocatalysis in aqueous solution.

An efficient two-step sequential supramolecular artificial light-harvesting system has been successfully constructed using self-assembled nanoparticles of cyanostilbene-cored dendrimers (CS-1 and CS-2) as donors, along with the fluorescent dye Nile red (NiR) and near-infrared (NIR) emitter MTSIC as acceptors in aqueous media. Through supramolecular interactions, the dendritic assemblies efficiently transfer energy in a sequential manner, first to NiR and then to MTSIC, resulting in an exceptionally high antenna effect (up to 97.7) and near-quantitative energy transfer efficiencies (reaching 99.