Energy funneling and charge separation in CdS modified with dual cocatalysts for enhanced H_(2) generation

Anchoring molecular cocatalysts on semiconductors has been recognized as a general strategy to boost the charge separation efficiency required for efficient photocatalysis.However,the effect of molecular cocatalysts on energy funneling(i.e.,directional energy transfer)inside semiconductor photocatalysts has not been demonstrated yet.Here we prepared CdS nanorods with both thin and thick rods and anchored the conjugated molecules 2‐mercaptobenzimidazole(MBI)and cobalt molecular catalysts(MCoA)sequentially onto the surface of nanorods.Transient absorption measurements revealed that MBI molecules facilitated energy funneling from thin to thick rods by the electronic coupling between thin and thick nanorods,which is essentially a light‐harvesting antenna approach to enhance the charge generation efficiency in the reaction center(here the thick rods).Moreover,MBI and MCoA molecules selectively extracted photogenerated holes and electrons of CdS nanorods rapidly,leading to efficient charge separation.Consequently,CdS/MBI/MCoA displayed 15 times enhanced photocatalytic H_(2) evolution(1.65 mL)than pure CdS(0.11 mL)over 3 h of illumination.The amount of H_(2) evolution reached 60 mL over 48 h of illumination with a high turnover number of 26294 and an apparent quantum efficiency of 71%at 420 nm.This study demonstrates a novel design principle for next‐generation photocatalysts.

A synergetic strategy of NIR-Ⅱ squaraine dyes with ultrahigh photothermal conversion efficiency for photothermal therapy

Recent research on photothermal therapy(PTT) has sparked significant interest in the development of new organic photothermal agents(PTAs),ranging from single-molecule to aggregated levels.However,controlling aggregation pathways for PTAs with ultrahigh photothermal conversion efficiency(PCE) remains a major challenge.Herein,a two-pronged approach utilizing “Haggregation” and “intramolecular motion” was employed to enhance the PCE of an acceptor-substituted squaraine dye(NSQs).The C2vmolecular symmetry of the NSQs,which possess a ground state dipole moment(μg),promotes H-dimeric aggregates through dipole-dipole counteraction.Peripheral triphenylethylene or diphenylamine groups were added to this H-dimeric nanoplatform.This was done to enhance intramolecular motions for heat generation and also to extend conjugation,which redshifted the optical absorption and balanced the blue-shift induced by H-aggregation.With this technique,an organic PTA with NIR-II absorption was developed,and its nanoparticle achieved a remarkable PCE of 86.3% under 1,064 nm laser excitation.Femtosecond transient absorption spectroscopy and quantum mechanical calculations demonstrated the accelerated internal conversion process in NIR-II PTAs for rapid heat generation.The NSQs nanoparticles exhibit superior photothermal therapeutic properties for in vivo photoacoustic imaging-guided PTT,demonstrating the potential of bottom-up design to enable synergistic engineering strategies towards efficient phototheranostic agents.

Tip-induced directional charge separation on one-dimensional BiVO4 nanocones for asymmetric light absorption

One dimensional(1D)semiconductor is a class of extensively attractive materials for many emerging solar energy conversion technologies.However,it is still of shortage to assess the impact of 1D structural symmetry on spatial charge separation and understand its underlying mechanism.Here we take controllably-synthesized 1D BiVO_(4)nanocones and nanorods as prototypes to study the influence of 1D symmetry on charge separation.It is found that the asymmetric BiVO_(4)nanocones enable more effective charge separation compared with the symmetric nanorods.The unexpected spatial charge separation on the nanocones is mainly ascribed to uneven light absorption induced diffusion-controllable charge separation due to symmetry breaking of 1D nanostructure,as evidenced by spatial and temporal resolved spectroscopy.Moreover,the promotion effect of charge separation on the nanocones was quantitatively evaluated to be over 20 times higher than that in BiVO_(4)nanorods.This work gives the first demonstration of the influence of 1D structural symmetry on the charge separation behavior,providing new insights to design and fabricate semiconductor materials for efficient solar energy conversion.

Macroscopic assembled graphene nanofilms based room temperature ultrafast mid-infrared photodetectors

Graphene with linear energy dispersion and weak electron-phonon interaction is highly anticipated to harvest hot electrons in a broad wavelength range.However,the limited absorption and serious backscattering of hot-electrons result in inadequate quantum yields,especially in the mid-infrared range.Here,we report a macroscopic assembled graphene(nMAG)nanofilm/silicon heterojunction for ultrafast mid-infrared photodetection.The assembled Schottky diode works in 1.5-4.0μm at room temperature with fast response(20-30 ns,rising time,4 mm2 window)and high detectivity(1.61011 to 1.9109 Jones from 1.5 to 4.0μm)under the pulsed laser,outperforming single-layer-graphene/silicon photodetectors by 2-8 orders.These performances are attributed to the greatly enhanced photo-thermionic effect of electrons in nMAG due to its high light absorption(~40%),long carrier relaxation time(~20 ps),low work function(4.52 eV),and suppressed carrier number fluctuation.The nMAG provides a long-range platform to understand the hot-carrier dynamics in bulk 2D materials,leading to broadband and ultrafast MIR active imaging devices at room temperature.

Probing molecular orientation at bulk heterojunctions by polarization-selective transient absorption spectroscopy

A bulk heterojunction in organic solar cells is where charge separation and recombination occur.Molecular orientation at the interface is one of the key factors that dictate solar cell efficiency.Although X-ray scattering-based methods can determine donor/acceptor domain orientations between an anisotropic phase and an isotropic fullerene-based phase,the rise of nonfullerene solar cells presents a new challenge in delineating local molecular directions at the interface between two anisotropic donor/acceptor domains.Here,we determine interfacial molecular orientations of three high-efficiency small molecule solar cells(ZR1:Y6,B1:BO-4 Cl,and BTR:BO-4 Cl)using polarization-selective transient absorption spectroscopy.The polarization anisotropy of charge separation dynamics indicates an angle of~90°between ZR1 and Y6 molecules at the interface,an angle close to 0°between B1 and BO-4 Cl,and random orientations between BTR and BO-4 Cl.These observations provide complementary information to X-ray scattering measurements and highlight polarization-selective transient absorption spectroscopy as a tool to probe interfacial structure and dynamics of key photophysical steps in energy conversion.

Biexciton Auger recombination in mono-dispersed, quantum-confined CsPbBr3 perovskite nanocrystals obeys universal volume-scaling

Auger recombination has been a long?standing obstacle to many prospective applications of colloidal quantum dots (QDs) ranging from lasing, light-emitting diodes to bio-labeling. As such, understanding the physical underpinnings and scaling laws for Auger recombination is essential to these applications. Previous studies of biexciton Auger recombination in various QDs established a universal scaling of biexciton lifetime (rxx) with QD volume (V):τxx =γV. However, recent measurements on perovskite nanocrystals (NCs), an emerging class of enablers for light harvest!ng and emitting applications, showed significant deviations from this universal scaling law, likely because the measured NCs are weakly-confined and also have relatively broad size-distributions. Here we study biexciton Auger recombination in mono-dispersed (size distributions within 1.7%—9.0%), quantunvconfined CsPbBr3 NCs (with confinement energy up to 410 meV) synthesized using a latest approach based on thermodynamic equilibrium control. Our measurements clearly reproduce the volume-scaling of τxx in confined CsPbBb QDs. However, the scaling factor γ(0.085 ± 0.001 ps/nm^3) is one order of magnitude lower than that reported for CdSe and PbSe QDs (1.00 ± 0.05 ps/nm^3), suggest!ng unique mechanisms enhancing Auger recombination rate in perovskite NCs.