Sophia C. Hayes

Direct observation of ultrafast long-range charge separation at polymer–fullerene heterojunctions

In polymeric semiconductors, charge carriers are polarons, which means that the excess charge deforms the molecular structure of the polymer chain that hosts it. This results in distinctive signatures in the vibrational modes of the polymer. Here, we probe polaron photogeneration dynamics at polymer:fullerene heterojunctions by monitoring its time-resolved resonance-Raman spectrum following ultrafast photoexcitation. We conclude that polarons emerge within 300 fs. Surprisingly, further structural evolution on ≲ 50-ps timescales is modest, indicating that the polymer conformation hosting nascent polarons is not significantly different from that near equilibrium. We interpret this as suggestive that charges are free from their mutual Coulomb potential because we would expect rich vibrational dynamics associated with charge-pair relaxation. We address current debates on the photocarrier generation mechanism at molecular heterojunctions, and our work is, to our knowledge, the first direct probe of molecular conformation dynamics during this fundamentally important process in these materials.

Femtosecond pump–probe studies of chlorine dioxide photochemistry in water and acetonitrile

Abstract The reaction dynamics of chlorine dioxide (OClO) dissolved in water and acetonitrile are investigated using femtosecond pump–probe spectroscopy. The change in optical density following photoexcitation of OClO at 400 nm is monitored at 12 wavelengths ranging from 267 to 900 nm. The dynamics observed at 267 and 400 nm demonstrate that the geminate recombination quantum yield of the primary ClO and O photofragments to reform ground-state OClO is reduced by a factor of six in acetonitrile relative to water. Calculations are presented that model the contribution of vibrationally excited OClO formed by geminate recombination to the pump–probe dynamics. Comparison of the experimental and computational results demonstrates that a portion of the dynamics can be attributed to vibrationally excited OClO. However, the optical-density changes observed between 700 and 900 nm are similar in magnitude for both solvents, suggesting that another species not produced by geminate recombination is responsible for these dynamics. The appearance and relaxation kinetics in acetonitrile are significantly slower than in water demonstrating the solvent dependence of photoproduct formation and ground-state vibrational relaxation. Reasons for this dependence including Coulombic solvent–solute interactions and intermolecular hydrogen bonding are discussed.

The formation of ClOO following the photoexcitation of aqueous OClO studied by two-color, time-resolved resonance Raman spectroscopy

The photochemistry of chlorine dioxide (OClO) is investigated by two-color time-resolved resonance Raman spectroscopy. Pump and probe wavelengths of 390 and 260 nm, respectively, are used to monitor photoproduct formation following aqueous OClO photoexcitation. Depletion and subsequent recovery of the OClO scattering intensities is observed consistent with subpicosecond reformation of OClO via geminate recombination of the primary photoproducts. Intensity is observed at 1442 cm−1 consistent with ClOO formation that appears and decays with time constants of 27.9±4.5 ps and 398±50 ps, respectively. The results presented here represent the first direct evidence for ClOO formation following the photoexcitation of aqueous OClO.

Geminate recombination and vibrational relaxation dynamics of aqueous chlorine dioxide: A time-resolved resonance Raman study

The photochemical dynamics of aqueous chlorine dioxide (OClO) are investigated using time-resolved resonance Raman spectroscopy. Stokes and anti-Stokes spectra are measured as a function of time following photoexcitation of OClO using degenerate pump and probe wavelengths at 390 nm. The temporal evolution of OClO Stokes intensity is found to be consistent with the reformation of ground-state OClO by subpicosecond geminate recombination of the primary ClO and O photofragments. Anti-Stokes intensity is observed for transitions corresponding to the symmetric stretch of OClO demonstrating that upon geminate recombination, excess vibrational energy is deposited along this coordinate. Dissipation of this energy to the surrounding solvent occurs with a time constant of ∼9 ps. Finally, a delay in the appearance of OClO anti-Stokes intensity relative to geminate recombination is observed demonstrating that the excess vibrational energy available to OClO is initially deposited along the resonance Raman inactive asy...

The production and decay kinetics of ClOO in water and freon-11: A time-resolved resonance raman study

The production of ClOO following OClO photolysis in water and fluorotrichloromethane (freon-11) is investigated using time-resolved resonance Raman (TRRR) spectroscopy. Stokes spectra are obtained as a function of time following OClO photoexcitation using pump and probe wavelengths of 390 and 260 nm, respectively. Scattering assignable to ClOO is observed, and appears with a time constant of 27.9±4.5 ps in water and 172±30 ps in freon-11. The ClOO intensity decays with a time constant of ∼398±50 ps in water and 864±200 ps in freon-11. Although the production and decay kinetics are solvent dependent, the quantum yield for ClOO production is similar between water and freon-11. Femtosecond pump–probe studies designed to monitor the evolution in optical density at 390 and 260 nm following OClO photoexcitation are also presented. These studies demonstrate that geminate recombination of the primary photoproducts is less efficient in freon-11 relative to water. This result taken in combination with the solvent i...

Analysis of the excited-state absorption spectral bandshape of oligofluorenes

We present ultrafast transient absorption spectra of two oligofluorene derivatives in dilute solution. These spectra display a photoinduced absorption band with clear vibronic structure, which we analyze rigorously using a time-dependent formalism of absorption to extract the principal excited-state vibrational normal-mode frequencies that couple to the electronic transition, the configurational displacement of the higher-lying excited state, and the reorganization energies. We can model the excited-state absorption spectrum using two totally symmetric vibrational modes with frequencies 450 (dimer) or 400 cm(-1) (trimer), and 1666 cm(-1). The reorganization energy of the ground-state absorption is rather insensitive to the oligomer length at 230 meV. However, that of the excited-state absorption evolves from 58 to 166 meV between the oligofluorene dimer and trimer. Based on previous theoretical work [A. Shukla et al., Phys. Rev. B 67, 245203 (2003)], we assign the absorption spectra to a transition from the 1B(u) excited state to a higher-lying mA(g) state, and find that the energy of the excited-state transition with respect to the ground-state transition energy is in excellent agreement with the theoretical predictions for both oligomers studied here. These results and analysis permit profound understanding of the nature of excited-state absorption in pi-conjugated polymers, which are the subject of general interest as organic semiconductors in the solid state.

Intermolecular hydrogen bonding in chlorine dioxide photochemistry: A time-resolved resonance Raman study

Abstract The geminate-recombination and vibrational-relaxation dynamics of chlorine dioxide (OClO) dissolved in ethanol and 2,2,2-trifluoroethanol (TFE) are investigated using time-resolved resonance Raman spectroscopy. Stokes spectra are measured as a function of time following photoexcitation using degenerate pump and probe wavelengths of 398 nm. For OClO dissolved in ethanol, subpicosecond geminate recombination occurs resulting in the reformation of ground-state OClO with a quantum yield of 0.5±0.1. Following recombination, intermolecular-vibrational relaxation of OClO occurs with a time constant of 31±10 ps. For OClO dissolved in TFE, recombination occurs with a time constant of 1.8±0.8 ps and a quantum yield of only 0.3±0.1. The intermolecular-vibrational-relaxation time constant of OClO in TFE is 79±27 ps. The reduced geminate-recombination quantum yield, delayed recombination, and slower vibrational relaxation for OClO in TFE is interpreted in terms of greater self-association of the solvent. Degenerate pump–probe experiments are also presented that demonstrate decay of the Cl-solvent charge-transfer complex on the ∼1-ns time scale in ethanol and TFE. This time is significantly longer than the abstraction times observed for other systems demonstrating that Cl hydrogen abstraction from alcohols occurs in the presence of a significant energy barrier.

Tetraphenylhexaazaanthracenes: 16π Weakly Antiaromatic Species with Singlet Ground States

Tetraphenylhexaazaanthracene, TPHA-1, is a fluorescent zwitterionic biscyanine with a closed-shell singlet ground state. TPHA-1 overcomes its weak 16π antiaromaticity by partitioning its π system into 6π positive and 10π negative cyanines. The synthesis of TPHA-1 is low yielding and accompanied by two analogous TPHA isomers: the deep red, non-charge-separated, quinoidal TPHA-2, and the deep green TPHA-3 that partitions into two equal but oppositely charged 8π cyanines. The three TPHA isomers are compared.

Time resolved infrared absorption studies of geminate recombination and vibrational relaxation in OClO photochemistry

Ultrafast time-resolved infrared absorption studies of aqueous chlorine dioxide (OClO) photochemistry are reported. Following photoexcitation at 401 nm, the evolution in optical density at frequencies between 1000 to 1100 cm(-1) is monitored to investigate vibrational energy deposition and relaxation along the asymmetric-stretch coordinate following the reformation of ground-state OClO via geminate recombination of the primary photofragments. The measured kinetics are compared to two proposed models for the vibrational-relaxation dynamics along the asymmetric-stretch coordinate. This comparison demonstrates that the perturbation model derived from molecular dynamics studies is capable of qualitatively reproducing the observed kinetics, where the collisional model employed in previous UV-pump, visible probe experiments demonstrates poor agreement with experiment. The ability of the perturbation model to reproduce the optical-density evolution observed in these studies demonstrates that for aqueous OClO, frequency dependence of the solvent-solute coupling is important in defining the level-dependent vibrational relaxation rates along the asymmetric-stretch coordinate. The absence of optical-density evolution corresponding to the population of higher vibrational levels (n>8) along the asymmetric-stretch coordinate suggests that following geminate recombination, energy is initially deposited into a local Cl-O stretch, with the relaxation of vibrational energy from this coordinate providing for delayed vibrational excitation of the asymmetric- and symmetric-stretch coordinates relative to geminate recombination, as previously observed.

Charge-transfer excitons in strongly coupled organic semiconductors

Time-resolved and temperature-dependent photoluminescence measurements on one-dimensional sexithiophene lattices reveal intrinsic branching of photoexcitations to two distinct species: self-trapped excitons and dark charge-transfer excitons (CTXs;