Zero-field splitting of the lowest excited triplet states of C(60) and C(70) and benzene

Substituent Effect in the First Excited Triplet State of Monosubstituted Benzenes

The structure of 30 monosubstituted benzenes in the first excited triplet T₁ state was optimized with both unrestricted (U) and restricted open shell (RO) approximations combined with the ωB97XD/aug-cc-pVTZ basis method. The substituents exhibited diverse σ- and π-electron-donating and/or -withdrawing groups. Two different positions of the substituents are observed in the studied compounds in the T₁ state: one distorted from the plane and the other coplanar with a quinoidal ring. The majority of the substituents are π-electron donating in the first group while π-electron withdrawing in the second one. Basically, U- and RO-ωB97XD approximations yield concordant results except for the B-substituents and a few of the planar groups. In the T₁ state, the studied molecules are not aromatic, yet aromaticity estimated using the HOMA (harmonic oscillator model of aromaticity) index increases from ca. -0.2 to ca. 0.4 with substituent distortion, while in the S₁ state, they are only slightly less aromatic than in the ground state (HOMA ≈0.8 vs ≈1.0, respectively). Unexpectedly, the sEDA(T₁) and pEDA(T₁) substituent effect descriptors do not correlate with analogous parameters for the ground and first excited singlet states. This is because in the T₁ state, the geometry of the ring changes dramatically and the sEDA(T₁) and pEDA(T₁) descriptors do not characterize only the functional group but the entire molecule. Thus, they cannot provide useful scales for the substituents in the T₁ states. We found that the spin density in the T₁ states is accumulated at the C_ipso and C_p atoms, and with the substituent deformation angle, it nonlinearly increases at the former while decreases at the latter. It appeared that the gap between singly unoccupied molecular orbital and singly occupied molecular orbital (SUMO-SOMO) is determined by the change of the SOMO energy because the former is essentially constant. For the nonplanar structures, SOMO correlates with the torsion angle of the substituent and the ground-state pEDA(S₀) descriptor of the π-electron-donating substituents ranging from 0.02 to 0.2 e. Finally, shapes of the SOMO-1 instead of SOMO frontier orbitals in the T₁ state somehow resemble the highest occupied molecular orbital ones of the S₀ and S₁ states. For several planar systems, the shape of the U- and RO-density functional theory-calculated SOMO-1 orbitals differs substantially.

Delocalisation of photoexcited triplet states probed by transient EPR and hyperfine spectroscopy

Photoexcited triplet states play a crucial role in photochemical mechanisms: long known to be of paramount importance in the study of photosynthetic reaction centres, they have more recently also been shown to play a major role in a number of applications in the field of molecular electronics. Their characterisation is crucial for an improved understanding of these processes with a particular focus on the determination of the spatial distribution of the triplet state wavefunction providing information on charge and energy transfer efficiencies. Currently, active research in this field is mostly focussed on the investigation of materials for organic photovoltaics (OPVs) and organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs). As the properties of triplet states and their spatial extent are known to have a major impact on device performance, a detailed understanding of the factors governing triplet state delocalisation is at the basis of the further development and improvement of these devices. Electron Paramagnetic Resonance (EPR) has proven a valuable tool in the study of triplet state properties and both experimental methods as well as data analysis and interpretation techniques have continuously improved over the last few decades. In this review, we discuss the theoretical and practical aspects of the investigation of triplet states and triplet state delocalisation by transient continuous wave and pulse EPR and highlight the advantages and limitations of the presently available techniques and the current trends in the field. Application of EPR in the study of triplet state delocalisation is illustrated on the example of linear multi-porphyrin chains designed as molecular wires.

Polarization Energies at Organic-Organic Interfaces: Impact on the Charge Separation Barrier at Donor-Acceptor Interfaces in Organic Solar Cells

We probe the energetic landscape at a model pentacene/fullerene (C60) interface to investigate the interactions between positive and negative charges, which are critical to the processes of charge separation and recombination in organic solar cells. Using a polarizable force field, we find that polarization energy, i.e., the stabilization a charge feels due to its environment, is larger at the interface than in the bulk for both a positive and a negative charge. The combination of the charge being more stabilized at the interface and the Coulomb attraction between the charges results in a barrier to charge separation at the pentacene/C60 interface that can be in excess of 0.7 eV for static configurations of the donor and acceptor locations. However, the impact of molecular motions, i.e., the dynamics, at the interface at room temperature results in a distribution of polarization energies and in charge separation barriers that can be significantly reduced. The dynamic nature of the interface is thus critical, with the polarization energy distributions indicating that sites along the interface shift in time between favorable and unfavorable configurations for charge separation.

Higher triplet state of fullerene C70 revealed by electron spin relaxation

Spin-lattice relaxation times T1 of photoexcited triplets (3)C70 in glassy decalin were obtained from electron spin echo inversion recovery dependences. In the range 30-100 K, the temperature dependence of T1 was fitted by the Arrhenius law with an activation energy of 172 cm(-1). This indicates that the dominant relaxation process of (3)C70 is described by an Orbach-Aminov mechanism involving the higher triplet state t2 which lies 172 cm(-1) above the lowest triplet state t1. Chemical modification of C70 fullerene not only decreases the intrinsic triplet lifetime by about ten times but also increases T1 by several orders of magnitude. The reason for this is the presence of a low-lying excited triplet state in (3)C70 and its absence in triplet C70 derivatives. The presence of the higher triplet state in C70 is in good agreement with the previous results from phosphorescence spectroscopy.

Triplet state delocalization in a conjugated porphyrin dimer probed by transient electron paramagnetic resonance techniques

The delocalization of the photoexcited triplet state in a linear butadiyne-linked porphyrin dimer is investigated by time-resolved and pulse electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) with laser excitation. The transient EPR spectra of the photoexcited triplet states of the porphyrin monomer and dimer are characterized by significantly different spin polarizations and an increase of the zero-field splitting parameter D from monomer to dimer. The proton and nitrogen hyperfine couplings, determined using electron nuclear double resonance (ENDOR) and X- and Q-band HYSCORE, are reduced to about half in the porphyrin dimer. These data unequivocally prove the delocalization of the triplet state over both porphyrin units, in contrast to the conclusions from previous studies on the triplet states of closely related porphyrin dimers. The results presented here demonstrate that the most accurate estimate of the extent of triplet state delocalization can be obtained from the hyperfine couplings, while interpretation of the zero-field splitting parameter D can lead to underestimation of the delocalization length, unless combined with quantum chemical calculations. Furthermore, orientation-selective ENDOR and HYSCORE results, in combination with the results of density functional theory (DFT) calculations, allowed determination of the orientations of the zero-field splitting tensors with respect to the molecular frame in both porphyrin monomer and dimer. The results provide evidence for a reorientation of the zero-field splitting tensor and a change in the sign of the zero-field splitting D value. The direction of maximum dipolar coupling shifts from the out-of-plane direction in the porphyrin monomer to the vector connecting the two porphyrin units in the dimer. This reorientation, leading to an alignment of the principal optical transition moment and the axis of maximum dipolar coupling, is also confirmed by magnetophotoselection experiments.