Author: Carlos M. Cruz

Atomically Precise Distorted Nanographenes: The Effect of Different Edge Functionalization on the Photophysical Properties down to the Femtosecond Scale

Nanographenes (NGs) have been attracting widespread interest since they combine peculiar properties of graphene with molecular features, such as bright visible photoluminescence. However, our understanding of the fundamental properties of NGs is still hampered by the high degree of heterogeneity usually characterizing most of these materials. In this context, NGs obtained by atomically precise synthesis routes represent optimal benchmarks to unambiguously relate their properties to well-defined structures. Here we investigate in deep detail the optical response of three curved hexa-peri-hexabenzocoronene (HBC) derivatives obtained by atomically precise synthesis routes. They are constituted…

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Heptagon-Containing Nanographene Embedded into [10]Cycloparaphenylene

We report the synthesis and characterization of a novel type of nanohoop, consisting of a cycloparaphenylene derivative incorporating a curved heptagon-containing π-extended polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) unit. We demonstrate that this new macrocycle behaves as a supramolecular receptor of curved π-systems such as fullerenes C60 and C70, with remarkably large binding constants (ca. 107 M−1), as estimated by fluorescence measurements. Nanosecond and femtosecond spectroscopic analysis show that these host-guest complexes are capable of quasi-instantaneous charge separation upon photoexcitation, due to the ultrafast charge transfer from the macrocycle to the complexed fullerene. These r…

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Influence of thermally induced structural transformations on the magnetic and luminescence properties of tartrate-based chiral lanthanide organic-frameworks

This work reports on the synthesis and characterization of five enantiomeric pairs of isostructural 3D metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) with the general formula {[Ln2(μ4-tar)2(μ-tar)(H2O)2]·xH2O}n [where Ln(iii) = Tb (Tb-L and Tb-D), Dy (Dy-L and Dy-D), Ho (Ho-L and Ho-D), Er (Er-L and Er-D) and Tm (Tm-L and Tm-D); tar = tartrate (d- or l-) and x = 3 or 4 depending on the counterpart], which possess interesting luminescence and magnetic properties. These MOFs undergo progressive and reversible dehydration processes upon controlled heating yielding three crystalline phases (Ln-L′, Ln-L′′ and Ln-L′′′). Alternating current magnetic measurements on Tb, Dy and Er-based compounds exhibit field ind…

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Sparse Deconvolution Using Support Vector Machines

Sparse deconvolution is a classical subject in digital signal processing, having many practical applications. Support vector machine (SVM) algorithms show a series of characteristics, such as sparse solutions and implicit regularization, which make them attractive for solving sparse deconvolution problems. Here, a sparse deconvolution algorithm based on the SVM framework for signal processing is presented and analyzed, including comparative evaluations of its performance from the points of view of estimation and detection capabilities, and of robustness with respect to non-Gaussian additive noise. Publicado

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