Electron injection and energy-transfer properties of spiropyran-cyclodextrin complexes coated onto metal oxide nanoparticles: Toward photochromic light harvesting

V Dryza; EJ Bieske

Journal article

Electron injection and energy-transfer properties of spiropyran-cyclodextrin complexes coated onto metal oxide nanoparticles: Toward photochromic light harvesting

V Dryza, EJ Bieske

Journal of Physical Chemistry C | AMER CHEMICAL SOC | Published : 2015

DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcc.5b05032

Abstract

The photochromic and spectroscopic properties of spiropyran-γ-cyclodextrin inclusion complexes coated onto the surface of zirconia and titania nanoparticles (NPs) are examined. After ultraviolet (UV) irradiation, the colorless spiropyran (SP) isomer contained within the cyclodextrin (CD) is converted to the colored merocyanine (MC) isomer, which absorbs light in the 400-600 nm region. A significant increase in the excited-state lifetime for MC-CD on zirconia NPs (τMC = 1.32 ns) is observed compared to MC in solution (τMC = 0.21 ns), indicating that MC → SP photoisomerisation is hindered by the surrounding CD. Excitation of MC-CD on titania NPs results in electron injection into the titania c..

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University of Melbourne Researchers

Evan Bieske Author

Related Projects (1)

Laser Spectroscopy of Functional Molecules

Frontier techniques of molecular laser spectroscopy and mass spectrometry will be developed and deployed to investigate the structure and fu..

Grants

Awarded by Australian Research Council

Funding Acknowledgements

This research was supported under the Australian Research Council's Discovery Project funding scheme (Project DP120100100). V.D. acknowledges an Australian Renewable Energy Agency Postdoctoral Fellowship (6-F004) and support from the University of Melbourne's Early Career Researcher Grant Scheme. The picosecond laser was kindly provided by K. P. Ghiggino and T. A. Smith.