Excited state electron transfer reactions of ProtoporphyrinIX with fullerene

•We have demonstrated the fluorescence quenching of PPIX with fullerene.•The nature of quenching is static.•The dominant process of quenching is electron transfer.•The cation radical of PPIX has been detected.

Excited-state dynamics between ProtoporphyrinIX (PPIX) and fullerene (C60) have been studied by using steady state and time resolved absorption and fluorescence spectroscopy. The emission intensity of PPIX is quenched by fullerene. Time-resolved fluorescence study implies that the quenching of PPIX by fullerene is static in nature. The dominant process for quenching is attributed to the process of photoinduced electron transfer from excited PPIX to fullerene. The obtained results signify that the formation of complex between PPIX and fullerene plays an important role in improvement of the light energy conversion.