Navaneetha K. Subbaiyan

Distinguishing homogeneous from heterogeneous catalysis in electrode-driven water oxidation with molecular iridium complexes.

Molecular water-oxidation catalysts can deactivate by side reactions or decompose to secondary materials over time due to the harsh, oxidizing conditions required to drive oxygen evolution. Distinguishing electrode surface-bound heterogeneous catalysts (such as iridium oxide) from homogeneous molecular catalysts is often difficult. Using an electrochemical quartz crystal nanobalance (EQCN), we report a method for probing electrodeposition of metal oxide materials from molecular precursors. Using the previously reported [Cp*Ir(H(2)O)(3)](2+) complex, we monitor deposition of a heterogeneous water oxidation catalyst by measuring the electrode mass in real time with piezoelectric gravimetry. Conversely, we do not observe deposition for homogeneous catalysts, such as the water-soluble complex Cp*Ir(pyr-CMe(2)O)X reported in this work. Rotating ring-disk electrode electrochemistry and Clark-type electrode studies show that this complex is a catalyst for water oxidation with oxygen produced as the product. For the heterogeneous, surface-attached material generated from [Cp*Ir(H(2)O)(3)](2+), we can estimate the percentage of electroactive metal centers in the surface layer. We monitor electrode composition dynamically during catalytic turnover, providing new information on catalytic performance. Together, these data suggest that EQCN can directly probe the homogeneity of molecular water-oxidation catalysts over short times.

Corrole−Fullerene Dyads: Formation of Long-Lived Charge-Separated States in Nonpolar Solvents

The first example of covalently linked free-base corrole-fullerene dyads is reported. In the newly synthesized dyads, the free-energy calculations performed by employing the redox and singlet excited-state energy in both polar and nonpolar solvents suggested the possibility of electron transfer from the excited singlet state of corrole to the fullerene entity. Accordingly, steady-state and time-resolved emission studies revealed efficient fluorescence quenching of the corrole entity in the dyads. Further studies involving femtosecond laser flash photolysis and nanosecond transient absorption studies confirmed electron transfer to be the quenching mechanism, in which the electron-transfer product, the fullerene anion radical, was able to be spectrally characterized. The rate of charge separation, kCS, was found to be on the order of 10(10)-10(11) s(-1), suggesting an efficient photoinduced electron-transfer process. Interestingly, the rate of charge recombination, kCR, was slower by 5 orders of magnitude in nonpolar solvents, cyclohexane and toluene, resulting in a radical ion-pair lasting for several microseconds. Careful analysis of the kinetic and thermodynamic data using the Marcus approach revealed that this novel feature is due to appropriately positioning the energy level of the charge-separated state below the triplet states of either of the donor and acceptor entities in both polar and nonpolar solvents, a feature that was not evident in donor-acceptor dyads constructed using symmetric tetrapyrroles as electron donors.

Supramolecular solar cells: surface modification of nanocrytalline TiO(2) with coordinating ligands to immobilize sensitizers and dyads via metal-ligand coordination for enhanced photocurrent generation.

An elegant method of self-assembly for modification of a TiO(2) surface using coordinating ligands followed by immobilization of variety of sensitizers and a dyad is reported. This highly versatile method, in addition to testing the photoelectrochemical behavior of different zinc tetrapyrroles, allowed the use of fairly complex structures involving more than one donor entity. Utilization of the zinc porphyrin-ferrocene dyad markedly improved the current-voltage performance of the photoelectrochemical cell through an electron transfer-hole migration mechanism. Incident photon-to-current efficiency values up to 37% were obtained for the electrode modified with the dyad, signifying the importance of photocells built on the basis of biomimetic principles for efficient harvesting of solar energy.

Surface‐Immobilized Single‐Site Iridium Complexes for Electrocatalytic Water Splitting

however, the design andimplementation of a stable and efficient molecular wateroxidation system that operates at high catalytic turnovernumber (TON) and frequency (TOF) for extended periods ofcontrolled-potential electrolysis (CPE), with moderate over-potential and high current density, are challenging.

Phenothiazine-sensitized organic solar cells: effect of dye anchor group positioning on the cell performance.

Effect of positioning of the cyanoacrylic acid anchoring group on ring periphery of phenothiazine dye on the performance of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) is reported. Two types of dyes, one having substitution on the C-3 aromatic ring (Type 1) and another through the N-terminal (Type 2), have been synthesized for this purpose. Absorption and fluorescence studies have been performed to visualize the effect of substitution pattern on the spectral coverage and electrochemical studies to monitor the tuning of redox levels. B3LYP/6-31G* studies are performed to visualize the frontier orbital location and their significance in charge injection when surface modified on semiconducting TiO₂. New DSSCs have been built on nanocrystalline TiO₂ according to traditional two-electrode Grätzel solar cell setup with a reference cell based on N719 dye for comparison. The lifetime of the adsorbed phenothiazine dye is found to be quenched significantly upon immobilizing on TiO₂ suggesting charge injection from excited dye to semiconducting TiO₂. The performances of the cells are found to be prominent for solar cells made out of Type 1 dyes compared to Type 2 dyes. This trend has been rationalized on the basis of spectral, electrochemical, computational, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy results.

Anion-complexation-induced stabilization of charge separation.

A supramolecular oligochromophoric system possessing exclusive binding sites for both a guest electron acceptor and an anionic cofactor species is developed, and anion-binding-induced stabilization of the charge-separated (CS) state is demonstrated. Toward this, intramolecular and intermolecular photochemical processes of a supramolecular complex of a bis-porphyrinyl-substituted oxoporphyrinogen with a bis(4-pyridyl)-substituted fullerene were investigated by using femtosecond and nanosecond laser flash photolysis measurements. Transient absorption spectra of the supramolecular complex obtained by femtosecond laser flash photolysis indicate that efficient electron transfer occurs from the porphyrin moiety to the fullerene moiety, followed by faster back electron transfer to the ground state. Binding of several different anionic species at the pyrrole amine groups of an oxoporphyrinogen unit within the supramolecular complex was found to improve the rate of the photoinduced electron transfer due to the favorable structural change. The anion binding also improves persistence of the photoinduced CS state between the anion-bound oxoporphyrinogen and fullerene moieties, which is produced by intermolecular electron transfer from the triplet excited state of free porphyrin molecules to free fullerene molecules, as indicated by the nanosecond laser flash photolysis measurements. In the case of fluoride anion binding, anion-complexation-induced stabilization of charge separation gave a 90-fold elongation of the CS state lifetime from 163 ns to 14 micros. Complexation with other anions (acetate or dihydrogen phosphate) also resulted in stabilization of the CS state, whereas weakly bound perchlorate anions gave no improvement. Complexation of anions to the oxoporphyrinogen center lowers its oxidation potential by nearly 600 mV, creating an intermediate energy state for charge migration from the ZnP(*+) to the oxoporphyrinogen:anion complex. An increase in reorganizational energy of electron transfer combined with the decrease in charge recombination driving force caused by anion binding results in an increase in the lifetime of the CS state.

Photochemical charge separation in closely positioned donor-boron dipyrrin-fullerene triads

A series of molecular triads, composed of closely positioned boron dipyrrin-fullerene units, covalently linked to either an electron donor (donor(1)-acceptor(1)-acceptor(2)-type triads) or an energy donor (antenna-donor(1)-acceptor(1)-type triads) was synthesized and photoinduced energy/electron transfer leading to stabilization of the charge-separated state was demonstrated by using femtosecond and nanosecond transient spectroscopic techniques. The structures of the newly synthesized triads were visualized by DFT calculations, whereas the energies of the excited states were determined from spectral and electrochemical studies. In the case of the antenna-donor(1)-acceptor(1)-type triads, excitation of the antenna moiety results in efficient energy transfer to the boron dipyrrin entity. The singlet-excited boron dipyrrin thus generated, undergoes subsequent energy and electron transfer to fullerene to produce a boron dipyrrin radical cation and a fullerene radical anion as charge-separated species. Stabilization of the charge-separated state in these molecular triads was observed to some extent.

Development of Nanopatterned Fluorine-Doped Tin Oxide Electrodes for Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells with Improved Light Trapping

Transparent conductors (TCs) are an important component of optoelectronic devices and nanoscale engineering of TCs is important for optimization of the device performance through improved light trapping. In this work, patterned periodic arrays of nanopillars and nanolines of pitch size of ~700 nm were created on fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) using nanoimprint lithography and reactive ion etching using environmentally friendly gases. The patterned FTO exhibits enhanced light trapping as compared to the unpatterned FTO, which agrees well with simulations based on Finite-Difference Time-Domain method for up to a distance of 4 μm. Dye sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) fabricated on the patterned FTO exhibited improved performance (fill factor and power conversion efficiency), which can be attributed to enhanced light absorption in the range 400-650 nm. Further, electrochemical impedance measurements revealed lower recombination resistance for the patterned FTO/TiO(2) electrode compared to the unpatterned FTO electrode/TiO(2) electrode as a result of better light capturing properties of patterned FTO. The direct fabrication of nanopatterns on TCs developed in the present study is expected to be a viable scheme for achieving improved performance in many other optoelectronic devices.

Diameter‐Sorted SWCNT–Porphyrin and SWCNT–Phthalocyanine Conjugates for Light‐Energy Harvesting

A non-covalent double-decker binding strategy is employed to construct functional supramolecular single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNT)-tetrapyrrole hybrids capable of undergoing photoinduced electron transfer and performing direct conversion of light into electricity. To accomplish this, two semiconducting SWCNTs of different diameters (6,5 and 7,6) were modified via π-π stacking of pyrene functionalized with an alkyl ammonium cation (PyrNH(3)(+)). Such modified nanotubes were subsequently assembled via dipole-cation binding of zinc porphyrin with one (1) or four benzo-18-crown-6 cavities (2) or phthalocyanine with four benzo-18-crown-6 cavities at the ring periphery (3), employed as visible-light photosensitizers. Upon charactering the conjugates using TEM and optical techniques, electron transfer via photoexcited zinc porphyrin and phthalocyanine was investigated using time-resolved emission and transient absorption techniques. Higher charge-separation efficiency is established for SWCNT(7,6) with a narrow band gap than the thin SWCNT(6,5) with a wide band gap. Photoelectrochemical studies using FTO/SnO(2) electrodes modified with these donor-acceptor conjugates unanimously demonstrated the ability of these conjugates to convert light energy into electricity. The photocurrent generation followed the trend observed for charge separation, that is, incident-photon-to-current efficiency (IPCE) of a maximum of 12 % is achieved for photocells with FTO/SnO(2)/SWCNT(7,6)/PyrNH(3)(+):1.

Pyrazinacenes: aza analogues of acenes.

A series of edge-sharing condensed oligopyrazine analogues of acenes, the pyrazinacenes, were synthesized and characterized. X-ray crystallographic determinations revealed intermolecular interactions that affect the propensity of the molecules to undergo pi-pi stacking. Increasing heteroatom substitution of the acene framework induces shorter intermolecular pi-pi stacking distances (shorter than for graphite) probably due to lower van der Waals radius of nitrogen atoms. Hydrogen bonding is also a determining factor in the case of compounds containing reduced pyrazine rings. Combined electrochemical, electronic absorption, and computational investigations indicate the substantial electron deficiency of the compounds composed of fused pyrazine rings. The pyrazinacenes are expected to be good candidates as materials for organic thin film transistors.