Search results for "ultrafast"
showing 10 items of 170 documents
Electron Transfer from Organic Aminophenyl Acid Sensitizers to Titanium Dioxide Nanoparticle Films
2009
Electron transfer from three conjugated amino-phenyl acid dyes to titanium and aluminum oxide nanocrystalline films was studied by using transient absorption spectroscopy with sub 20 fs time-resolution over the visible spectral region. All the dyes attached to TiO2 showed long-lived ground state bleach signals indicative of formation of new species. Global analysis of the transient kinetics of the dyes on TiO2 revealed stimulated emission decays of about 40 fs and less than 300 fs assigned to electron injection. The same dyes on Al2O3 substrates displayed long stimulated emission decays (ns) suggesting that electron transfer is blocked in this high band gap semiconductor. For two of the dye…
Highly Efficient Electron Transfer in a Carbon Dot–Polyoxometalate Nanohybrid
2020
Using solar radiation to fuel catalytic processes is often regarded as the solution to our energy needs. However, developing effective photocatalysts that are active under visible light has proven to be difficult, often due to the toxicity, instability, and high cost of suitable catalysts. We engineered a novel photoactive nanomaterial obtained by the spontaneous electrostatic coupling of carbon nanodots with [P2W18O62]6-, a molecular catalyst belonging to the class of polyoxometalates. While the former are used as photosensitizers, the latter was chosen for its ability to catalyze reductive reactions such as dye decomposition and water splitting. We find the electron transfer within the na…
Assessment of the Potential Energy Hypersurfaces in Thymine within Multiconfigurational Theory: CASSCF vs. CASPT2
2016
The present study provides new insights into the topography of the potential energy hypersurfaces (PEHs) of the thymine nucleobase in order to rationalize its main ultrafast photochemical decay paths by employing two methodologies based on the complete active space self-consistent field (CASSCF) and the complete active space second-order perturbation theory (CASPT2) methods: (i) CASSCF optimized structures and energies corrected with the CASPT2 method at the CASSCF geometries and (ii) CASPT2 optimized geometries and energies. A direct comparison between these strategies is drawn, yielding qualitatively similar results within a static framework. A number of analyses are performed to assess t…
Study of Mechanisms of Light-Induced Dissociation of Ru(dcbpy)(CO)2I2 in Solution down to 20 fs Time Resolution
2006
Mechanisms of the light-induced ligand exchange reaction of (trans-I) Ru(dcbpy)(CO)2I2 (dcbpy = 4,4'-dicarboxylic acid-2,2'-bipyridine) in ethanol have been studied by transient absorption spectroscopy. Ultraviolet 20 fs excitation pulses centered at 325 nm were used to populate a vibrationally hot excited pi bipyridyl state of the reactant that quickly relaxes to a dissociative Ru-I state resulting in the release of one of the carbonyl groups. Quantum yield measurements have indicated that about 40% of the initially exited reactant molecules form the final photoproduct. A 62 fs rise component in the transient absorption (TA) signal was observed at all probe wavelengths in the visible regio…
Femtosecond Transient Absorption Study of the Dynamics of Acrylodan in Solution and Attached to Human Serum Albumin
2003
The excited-state relaxation dynamics of the protein-labeling dye acrylodan in solution and attached to human serum albumin has been studied by femtosecond transient absorption spectroscopy. Time-resolved spectra and kinetics of stimulated emission and excited-state absorption in the wavelength region from 400 to 800 nm were studied in ethanol and dimethylformamide. The excited-state solvation dynamics is characterized by multiexponential behavior in both solvents. In ethanol solution, the time dependence of the transient spectra is interpreted in terms of fast solvent relaxation followed by excited-state isomerization of the dye. Acrylodan attached to the protein shows a relaxation compone…
Impact of the synergistic collaboration of oligothiophene bridges and ruthenium complexes on the optical properties of dumbbell-shaped compounds.
2012
The linear and non-linear optical properties of a family of dumbbell-shaped dinuclear complexes, in which an oligothiophene chain with various numbers of rings (1, 3, and 6) acts as a bridge between two homoleptic tris(2,2'-bipyridine)ruthenium(II) complexes, have been fully investigated by using a range of spectroscopic techniques (absorption and luminescence, transient absorption, Raman, and non-linear absorption), together with density functional theory calculations. Our results shed light on the impact of the synergistic collaboration between the electronic structures of the two chemical moieties on the optical properties of these materials. Experiments on the linear optical properties …
Ultrafast Twisting of the Indoline Donor Unit Utilized in Solar Cell Dyes: Experimental and Theoretical Studies
2015
Previous time-resolved measurements on D149, the most-studied dye of the indoline family, had shown a fast time-component of 20–40 ps that had tentatively been attributed to structural relaxation. Using femtosecond transient absorption, we have investigated the isolated indoline donor unit (i.e., without acceptor group) and found an ultrafast decay characterized by two lifetimes of 3.5 and 23 ps. Density functional theory calculations show π-bonding and π*-antibonding character of the central ethylene group for the highest occupied and lowest unoccupied molecular orbitals (HOMO and LUMO), respectively. The LUMO is localized on the flexible vinyl-diphenyl region of the donor unit and a twist…
Dynamics of ground and excited state chlorophylla molecules in pyridine solution probed by femtosecond transient absorption spectroscopy
1999
Abstract Femtosecond pump–probe spectroscopy was used to investigate the ground and excited state dynamics of chlorophyll a (Chl a ) in pyridine following excitation by a 100 fs optical pulse. The transient absorption spectrum and kinetics reveal spectral evolution on two ultrafast time scales: ∼100 fs and ∼3 ps. We attribute these dynamics to ground-state transient hole-burning and solvation dynamics. Transient absorption anisotropy at early times (∼500 fs) was measured for Chl a in pyridine and shows a pronounced wavelength dependence, where anisotropy varies between 0 and 0.5. Strong contribution from excited state absorption is the origin of the variation.
Pigment−Pigment and Pigment−Protein Interactions in Recombinant Water-Soluble Chlorophyll Proteins (WSCP) from Cauliflower
2007
Plants contain water-soluble chlorophyll-binding proteins (WSCPs) that function neither as antennas nor as components of light-induced electron transfer of photosynthesis but are likely constituents of regulatory protective pathways in particular under stress conditions. This study presents results on the spectroscopic properties of recombinant WSCP from cauliflower reconstituted with chlorophyll b (Chl b) alone or with mixtures of Chl a and Chl b. Two types of experiments were performed: (a) measurements of stationary absorption spectra at 77 and 298 K and CD spectra at 298 K and (b) monitoring of laser flash-induced transient absorption changes with a resolution of 200 fs in the time doma…
Characterisation of Chlorophyll a and Chlorophyll b Monomers in Various Solvent Environments with Ultrafast Spectroscopy
1998
In photosynthesis the energy from the sun is captured by light harvesting chlorophyll pigments and converted to stable chemical energy, by the photochemical reaction center. Photosynthetic energy transfer in the antenna systems of green plants has previously been studied by ultrafast time resolved spectroscopy. The characteristics of the chlorophyll pigments itself is important to study in order to understand the dynamics on a femtosecond timescale. One way to study the energy transfer is to use transient absorption spectroscopy and follow the increase or decrease in the transient absorption signal with time (1). Another way to study the energy transfer is to monitor the change in dichroism…