Global analysis of quenching of the time-resolved emission of ZnO nanocrystals by adsorbed rhodamine B on the basis of Tachiya theory

Improvement of the CO2 Sensitivity: HPTS-Based Sensors along with Zn@SnO2 and Sn@ZnO Additives

Fluorescent pH-sensitive indicator dye, 8-hydroxypyrene-1,3,6-trisulfonic acid (HPTS), has become known as a preferred alternative for continuous and accurate monitoring of dissolved and/or gaseous CO2 in chemistry, medical, and biochemical research. The objective of this work is to enhance the HPTS dye's CO2 sensitivity in the presence of Zn@SnO2 and Sn@ZnO additive particles. Sol-gel synthesized metal oxide semiconductors (MOSs) were characterized using XRD, XPS, and SEM. The fluorophore dye and the MOS additives were embedded in the ethyl cellulose (EC) polymeric matrix to prepare the sensing thin films. The steady-state and decay kinetic measurements of the HPTS-based composites were obtained by PL spectroscopy for the concentration ranges of 0-100% p[CO2]. As expected, the addition of MOSs improves the sensor characteristics, specifically its CO2 sensing ability, linear response range, and relative signal change compared to the free form of HPTS. The CO2 sensitivities of the HPTS-based thin films were found at 17.6, 23.2, and 40.9 for the undoped, Zn@SnO2,-doped, and Sn@ZnO-doped forms of the HPTS, respectively. Additionally, the response and recovery times of the HPTS-based sensor agent with Sn@ZnO were measured as 10 and 460 s, respectively. The obtained results demonstrate that materials composed of HPTS with MOSs are potential candidates for CO2 sensors.

Femtosecond Upconversion Study of Interfacial Electron Transfer from Photoexcited CsPbBr3 Perovskite Nanocrystal to Rhodamine 6G

Photoinduced electron transfer (PET) from an excited-state CsPbBr₃ nanocrystal (NC) to rhodamine 6G (r6G) is studied in toluene using different fluorescence-based techniques. Because of weak solubility of r6G in toluene, excess r6G molecules adsorb at NC surface which result in a much slower rotational diffusion time scale of r6G in the presence of NCs. Study of intrinsic PET benefits from the soft molecular interactions leading to donor (NC)-acceptor (r6G) complex formation, where solvent diffusion parameters would not play any role in the PET kinetics. Femtosecond transients of NCs are nicely fit to a Poisson expression originally proposed by Tachiya. Conclusive fittings to the temperature dependence quenching data reveal two interesting observations: (1) Even though the average number of surface trap state in a NC does not change with temperature (5-60 °C), the trap-state-induced quenching time scale is accelerated with increase in temperature, pointing toward a more efficient trapping at higher temperature. (ii) In the presence of r6G, a fast (∼150 ps per r6G molecule) interfacial PET time scale is observed, which remains unaffected by temperature (5-60 °C). Our findings demonstrate that even a simple "perovskite NC-electron acceptor" composite like that in the present study can ensure a rapid interfacial charge separation. Such information will help us to realize the actual potential of perovskites NCs in their real applications.

Femtosecond insights into direct electron injection in dye anchored ZnO QDs following charge transfer excitation

The role of the charge transfer (CT) state in interfacial electron transfer in dye-sensitized semiconductor nanocrystals is still poorly understood. To address this problem, femtosecond transient absorption (TA) spectroscopy is used as a probe to investigate the electron injection across a newly synthesized coumarin dye (8-hydroxy-2-oxo-4-phenyl-2 benzo[h]chromene-3-carbonitrile, coded BC5) and ZnO quantum dots (QDs). Steady state and time-resolved spectroscopic measurements reveal that BC5 dye interacts strongly with ZnO QDs in the ground state forming a CT complex. The BC5-ZnO QD complex absorbs more towards red compared to only the dye and QDs, and emits fluorescence due to radiative recombination of photogenerated charges. The formation of charges following the excitation of the CT complex has been demonstrated by observing the signature of dye radical cations and electrons in the conduction band (CB) of the QDs in the TA spectra. The TA signals of these charges grow sharply as a result of ultrafast direct electron injection into the QD. We have monitored the complete dynamics of photogenerated charges by measuring the TA signals of the charges up to a couple of nanoseconds. The injected electrons that are free or shallowly trapped recombine with a time constant of 625 fs, whereas deeply trapped electrons disappear slowly (526 ps) via radiative recombination. Furthermore, theoretical studies based on ab initio calculations have been carried out to complement the experimental findings.