Alexander B. Nepomnyashchii

Electrochemistry and Electrogenerated Chemiluminescence of BODIPY Dyes

BODIPY (boron dipyrromethene) dyes are unique materials with spectroscopic and electrochemical properties comparable to those of aromatic hydrocarbons. Electrochemical studies are useful in understanding the redox properties of these materials and finding structure-stability relations for the radical ions; along with spectroscopy, these studies help researchers design novel compounds with desired properties. This Account represents our attempt at a full description of the electrochemical and electrogenerated chemiluminescence (ECL) properties of the BODIPY dyes. When the dyes are completely substituted with alkyl or other groups, the radical ions of BODIPY dyes are highly stable. But if they include unsubstituted positions, the radical ions can undergo dimerization or other reactions. BODIPY dyes also show unusually large separations, ~1.0 V, between the first and second cyclic voltammetric (CV) waves for both oxidation and reduction half-reactions. Alkyl-substituted BODIPY dyes show good photoluminescence (PL) quantum efficiencies, and radical ion electron transfer annihilation in these molecules produces electrogenerated chemiluminescence (ECL), the intensity of which depends on the structure of the dye. The large separation between waves and the presence of strong ECL signals are both important in the design of stable ECL-based materials. The ECL spectra provide a fast method of monitoring the electrochemical formation of dimers and aggregates from the monomers. BODIPY dyes are particularly good systems for studying stepwise electron transfer in their chemically synthesized oligomers and polymers because of the small separation between the first oxidation and first reduction waves, generally about 2.0-2.4 V, and their relative ease of reduction compared with many other aromatic compounds. The larger separation between consecutive waves for oxidation compared with reduction is noticeable for all BODIPY dimers and trimers. We also observe a more difficult addition or extraction of a third electron compared with the second for the trimers, signaling the importance of electrostatic interactions. In general, BODIPY dyes combine interesting electrochemical and spectroscopic properties that suggest useful analytical applications.

Synthesis, photophysical, electrochemical, and electrogenerated chemiluminescence studies. Multiple sequential electron transfers in BODIPY monomers, dimers, trimers, and polymer.

Synthesis of the C(8) BODIPY monomers, dimers, and trimers, a C(8) polymer, and N(8) aza-BODIPY monomer and dimer was carried out. Methyl and mesityl C(8)-substituted monomers, dimers, and trimers were used. Dimers, trimers, and polymer were formed chemically through the β-β (2/6) positions by oxidative coupling using FeCl(3). A red shift of the absorbance and fluorescence is observed with addition of monomer units from monomer to polymer for C(8) dyes. The aza-BODIPY dye shows red-shifted absorbance and fluorescence compared with the C(8) analogue. Cyclic voltammetry shows one, two, and three one-electron waves on both reduction and oxidation for the monomer, dimer, and trimer, respectively, for the C(8) BODIPYs. The separation for the reduction peaks for the C(8) dimers is 0.12 V compared with 0.22 V for the oxidation, while the trimers show separations of 0.09 V between reduction peaks and 0.13 V for oxidation peaks. The larger separations between the second and third peaks, 0.25 V for the oxidation and 0.2 V for the reduction, are consistent with a larger energy to remove or add a third electron compared with the second one. The BODIPY polymer shows the presence of many sequential one-electron waves with a small separation. These results provide evidence for significant electronic interactions between different monomer units. The aza-BODIPY dye shows a reduction peak 0.8 V more positive compared to the C(8) compound. Aza-BODIPY dimer shows the appearance of four waves in dichloromethane. The separation between two consecutive waves is around 0.12 V for reduction compared with 0.2 V for oxidation, which is comparable with the results for the C(8) dyes. Electrogenerated chemiluminescence (ECL) of the different species was obtained, including weak ECL of the polymer.

Dependence of electrochemical and electrogenerated chemiluminescence properties on the structure of BODIPY dyes. Unusually large separation between sequential electron transfers.

Electrochemistry and electrogenerated chemiluminescence (ECL) of selected substituted BODIPY (4,4-difluoro-4-bora-3a,4a-diaza-s-indacene) dyes have been studied. The location and nature of substituents on positions 1-8 are important in predicting the behavior, and especially the stability, of the radical ions formed on electron transfer. Dyes with unsubstituted positions 2, 6, and 8 show a kinetic contribution to both oxidation and reduction. Dyes with only unsubstituted positions 2 and 6 and a substituted 8 position show chemically reversible reduction but irreversible oxidation. Unsubstituted positions 2 and 6 tend to show dimer formation on oxidation. Completely substituted dyes show nernstian oxidation and reduction. Oxidation and reduction studies of simple BODIPY dyes show an unusually large separation between the first and second reduction peaks and also the first and second oxidation peaks, of about 1.1 V, which is very different from that observed for polycyclic hydrocarbons and other heteroaromatic compounds, where the spacing is usually about 0.5 V. Electronic structure calculations confirmed this behavior, and this effect is attributed to a greater electronic energy required to withdraw or add a second electron and a lower relative solvation energy for the dianion or dication compared with those of the polycyclic hydrocarbons. ECL was generated for all compounds either by annihilation or by using a co-reactant.

Scanning Electrochemical Microscopy Study of Ion Annihilation Electrogenerated Chemiluminescence of Rubrene and (Ru(bpy) 3 ) 2

Scanning electrochemical microscopy (SECM) was used for the study of electrogenerated chemiluminescence (ECL) in the radical annihilation mode. The concurrent steady-state generation of radical ions in the microgap formed between a SECM probe and a transparent microsubstrate provides a distance-dependent ECL signal that can provide information about the kinetics, stability, and mechanism of the light emission process. In the present study, the ECL emission from rubrene and [Ru(bpy)(3)](2+) was used to model the system by carrying out experiments with the SECM and light-detecting apparatus inside an inert atmosphere box. We studied the influence of the distance between the two electrodes, d, and the annihilation kinetics on the ECL light emission profiles under steady-state conditions, as well as the ECL profiles when carrying out cyclic voltammetry (CV) at a fixed d. Experimental results are compared to simulated results obtained through commercial finite element method software. The light produced by annihilation of the ions was a function of d; stronger light was observed at smaller d. The distance dependence of the ECL emission allows the construction of light approach curves in a similar fashion as with the tip currents in the feedback mode of SECM. These ECL approach curves provide an additional channel to describe the reaction kinetics that lead to ECL; good agreement was found between the ECL approach curve emission profile and the simulated results for a fast, diffusion-limited second-order annihilation process (k(ann) > 10(7) M(-1) s(-1)). In the CV mode at fixed distance, the ECL emission of rubrene showed two distinct signals at different potentials when fixing the substrate to generate the radical cation and scanning the tip to generate the radical anion. The first signal (pre-emission) corresponded to an emission well before reaching the generation of the radical anion and was more intense on Au than on Pt. The second ECL signal showed the expected steady-state behavior from the second-order annihilation reaction and agreed well with the simulation. A comparison of the emission obtained with rubrene and [Ru(bpy)(3)](2+) to test the direct formation of lower energy triplets directly at the electrode showed that triplets are not the cause of the pre-emission observed. Wavelength selection experiments for the rubrene system showed that the pre-emission ECL signal also appeared slightly red-shifted with respect to the main luminophore emission; a possible explanation for this phenomenon is inverse photoemission, where the injection of highly energetic holes by the oxidized species into the negatively biased tip electrode causes emission of states in the metal that appear at a different wavelength than the singlet emission from the ECL luminophore.

Influence of the Aggregation of a Carbazole Thiophene Cyanoacrylate Sensitizer on Sensitized Photocurrents on ZnO Single Crystals

Dye sensitization of zinc oxide single crystals by a carbazole thiophene cyanoacrylate (MK-2) sensitizer deposited from THF and mixtures of THF and water was investigated. AFM images show the formation of larger aggregates, with the maximum size of 20-30 nm from mixtures of THF and water, compared with 8-12 nm from pure THF. Sensitized photocurrent spectra were correlated with the morphological results from AFM imaging and indicate that aggregation in water results in less efficient sensitization of the ZnO substrate. The presence of the aggregation in solution due to water content was confirmed by absorbance and fluorescence spectroscopies.

Electrochemistry and electrogenerated chemiluminescence of thiophene and fluorene oligomers. Benzoyl peroxide as a coreactant for oligomerization of thiophene dimers

The electrochemical properties of oligomers of thiophene (with number of monomer units, n, from 2 to 12) and fluorene (n = 3 to 7) were investigated. Both sets of oligomers were characterized by the presence of two oxidation and two reduction waves as determined by cyclic voltammetry (CV), with the reversibility of the waves depending on the structural properties of the compounds. The addition or removal of a third electron was found to be difficult relative to the second, a finding shown for conjugated oligomers with chain lengths up to 7 in the case of the fluorenes and up to 12 for the thiophenes. The oligothiophenes showed a larger separation between the electrochemical waves for the same chain length, and also substantial electrogenerated chemiluminescence (ECL) signals, whose intensity increased with oligomer size. In contrast, the ECL intensity of the fluorene oligomers was essentially independent of chain length. The ECL spectra for the thiophene dodecamer were obtained with concentrations as low as 20 pM, a result that reflects a high ECL efficiency, close to that of the well-known ECL standard Ru(bpy)32+. Oligomers were also formed on electrochemical reduction of an appropriately functionalized dimer in the presence of benzoyl peroxide producing a longer wavelength emission (maximum at ∼540 nm) as opposed to the spectrum of the dimer (λem = 390 nm).

Templated Homoepitaxial Growth with Atomic Layer Deposition of Single-Crystal Anatase (101) and Rutile (110) TiO2

Homoepitaxial growth of highly ordered and pure layers of rutile on rutile crystal substrates and anatase on anatase crystal substrates using atomic layer deposition (ALD) is reported. The epilayers grow in a layer-by-layer fashion at low deposition temperatures but are still not well ordered on rutile. Subsequent annealing at higher temperatures produces highly ordered, terraced rutile surfaces that in many cases have fewer electrically active defects than the substrate crystal. The anatase epitaxial layers, grown at 250 °C, have much fewer electrically active defects than the rather impure bulk crystals. Annealing the epilayers at higher temperatures increased band gap photocurrents in both anatase and rutile.

Electrogenerated Chemiluminescence of BODIPY, Ru(bpy)32+, and 9,10-Diphenylanthracene Using Interdigitated Array Electrodes

Interdigitated array electrodes (IDAs) were used to produce steady-state electrogenerated chemiluminescence (ECL) by annihilation of oxidized and reduced forms of a substituted boron dipyrromethene (BODIPY) dye, 9,10-diphenylanthracene (DPA), and ruthenium(II) tris(bypiridine) (Ru(bpy)3(2+)). Digital simulations were in good agreement with the experimentally obtained currents and light outputs. Coreactant experiments, using tri-n-propylamine and benzoyl peroxide as a sacrificial homogeneous reductant or oxidant, show currents corresponding to electrode reactions of the dyes and not the oxidation or reduction of the coreactants. The results show that interdigitated arrays can produce stable ECL where the light intensity is magnified due to the larger currents as a consequence of feedback between generator and collector electrodes in the IDA. The light output for ECL is around 100 times higher than that obtained with regular planar electrodes with similar area.

Atomic layer deposition of epitaxial layers of anatase on strontium titanate single crystals: Morphological and photoelectrochemical characterization

Atomic layer deposition was used to grow epitaxial layers of anatase (001) TiO2 on the surface of SrTiO3 (100) crystals with a 3% lattice mismatch. The epilayers grow as anatase (001) as confirmed by x-ray diffraction. Atomic force microscope images of deposited films showed epitaxial layer-by-layer growth up to about 10 nm, whereas thicker films, of up to 32 nm, revealed the formation of 2–5 nm anatase nanocrystallites oriented in the (001) direction. The anatase epilayers were used as substrates for dye sensitization. The as received strontium titanate crystal was not sensitized with a ruthenium-based dye (N3) or a thiacyanine dye (G15); however, photocurrent from excited state electron injection from these dyes was observed when adsorbed on the anatase epilayers. These results show that highly ordered anatase surfaces can be grown on an easily obtained substrate crystal.

Application of Gold Electrodes for the Study of Nickel Based Homogeneous Catalysts for Hydrogen Oxidation

Gold and glassy carbon working electrode materials are compared as suitable substrates for the hydrogen oxidation reaction with Ni(PCy2Nt-Bu2)2(BF4)2 used as a catalyst. Voltammetric responses showing electrocatalytic hydrogen oxidation mediated by the homogeneous electrocatalyst Ni(PCy2Nt-Bu2)2(BF4)2 are identical at glassy carbon and gold electrodes, which shows that gold electrode can be used for hydrogen oxidation reaction. This work is supported as part of the Center for Molecular Electrocatalysis, an Energy Frontier Research Center funded by the US Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences under FWP 56073.