Pressure effects on both fluorescent emission and charge transport properties of organic semiconductors: a computational study.

External pressure can regulate the photophysical property and charge transport performance of organic semiconductors, however, the underlying mechanism at the microscopic level is still elusive. Using thermal vibrational correlation function coupled quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics and full quantum charge transfer rate theory, we systematically explore the influence of pressure on fluorescence emission and charge transport behaviours of representative cyclooctatetrathiophene (COTh). It is found that, upon pressurization, the intramolecular configurations of COTh became more twisted, leading to the blue-shifted emission. The fluorescence quantum efficiency (FQE) of COTh crystals decreases monotonically in a wide pressure range of 0-4.38 GPa, because the increase of intermolecular electronic energy transfer rate constant (keet) is larger than the decrease of internal conversion rate constant (kic), and the variation of keet is dominant. The decrease in kic is attributed to the decreasing reorganization energy, reflecting the suppression of the low-frequency flipping vibrations of four thiophene rings and the high-frequency stretching vibrations of central cyclooctatetraene, while the keet increase is due to the simultaneous increase in exciton coupling and spectra overlap. Moreover, we predicted that the hole mobility of COTh increases monotonically by nearly an order of magnitude from 0.39 to 3.00 cm2 V-1 s-1 upon compression, because of the increase in transfer integral and the decrease of charged reorganization energy. Furthermore, its hole mobility exhibits obvious anisotropy. Our work systematically builds the external pressure, molecular packing, luminescence and transport properties relationships of organic semiconductors and provides theoretical guidance for the rational design of pressure responsive organic semiconductors with excellent photoelectric performance.

Investigation on low-loss hollow-core anti-resonant terahertz fiber.

In this work, a hollow-core anti-resonant terahertz (THz) fiber with elliptical cladding and nested tubes is proposed and fabricated. It is an effective way to reduce the loss of THz waves by transmitting them in an air core and breaking the material absorption. After parameter optimization of the initial structure, multiple transmission windows exist in the 0.2-0.8 THz band, where confinement loss is as low as 3.47×10-3cm-1 at 0.8 THz. At 0.2-0.7 THz, confinement losses lie between 10-3 and 10-2cm-1. The 3D printed samples are characterized by a THz time-domain spectroscopy system. Experimental results showed that the designed fiber structure transmits loss coefficients up to 10-2cm-1 in the 0.2-0.8 THz band (the minimum value is located at 0.46 THz, corresponding to a loss coefficient of 0.0284cm-1). The experiments show that the designed THz fiber achieves a good transmission effect.

Theoretical insight on the saturated stimulated emission intensity of a squaraine dye for STED nanoscopy.

Stimulated emission depletion nanoscopy (STED) is increasingly applied for the insights into the ultra-structures of organelles in live cells because of the bypassing of the Abbe's optical diffraction limit. Theoretically, with the increase of excitation and depletion laser power, the imaging resolution can be accordingly enhanced and even close to the infinity. Unfortunately, powerful laser illuminations usually produce severe phototoxicity and photobleaching, which will lead to more extra-interference with biological events in live cells and accelerate the decomposition of the fluorescent probes. In view of the trade-off of cell viability and imaging resolution, excellent probes with superior photophysical properties are great in demand. For a qualified STED probes, the saturated stimulated emission intensity (Isat) is considered as a key evaluating factor. According to the formula, Isat is inversely proportional to the stimulated emission cross section (σsti) of the fluorescent probe. However, the relationship between the σsti and chemical structure of the STED probe remain to be unclear. In this work, we explore the influence factors by theoretical calculations on a squaraine dye (MitoEsq-635) and a commercial dye (Atto647N). The results indicate that the increase of transition dipole moment (µ) are beneficial for the increase of σsti, thereafter reducing Isat. Furthermore, we firstly proposed that stimulated emission depletion was qualitatively interpreted by the investigation on the potential energy surfaces of ground states (S0) and the first excited states (S1) of the dyes.

Exploring the evolution patterns of melem from thermal synthesis of melamine to graphitic carbon nitride.

In the exploration of synthesizing graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4), the existence of secondary anime bridging units shows the incompleteness of related theories. Thus, taking the thermal synthesis of melamine as an example, this work finds a possible reaction path with Density Functional Theory (DFT) for forming melem during the thermal synthesis of g-C3N4. Combined with transition state theory (TST), it indicates that the formation of melem results from the condensation of melamine and isomerization of melam. Meanwhile, the weak signal near 2135 cm-1 in the Fourier Transform Infrared Spectra (FTIR) corresponds to the vibration of carbodi-imines (-N[double bond, length as m-dash]C[double bond, length as m-dash]N-), which further proves the proposed reaction path. Thus, this work can explain the formation of g-C3N4 and its monomer, which may contribute to the successful formation of ideal g-C3N4 in the future.

Origin of Nonmonotonical Variation of Luminescence Efficiency under Pressure in Organic Molecule.

The nonmonotonical variation of luminescence efficiency under extra pressure occurs frequently in organic molecules; however, the mechanism behind this is still elusive. Using a theoretical protocol combining thermal vibration function rate formalism coupled quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics models, we explored the relationship between extra pressure, molecular packing, and fluorescent quantum efficiency (FQE) of the representative 1,2,3,4-tetraphenyl-1,3-cyclopentadiene (TPC). It is found that the first increase and then decrease of FQE in TPC crystalline aggregates upon pressurization is cooperatively attributed to the continuous reduction of the radiative decay rate constant and nonmonotonical change of the nonradiative decay rate constant (kic). The initial decrease of kic originates from the effective suppression of electron-vibration coupling and the Duschinsky rotation effect by extra pressure, whereas the following increase of kic comes from the surge of nonadiabatic electronic coupling and the reduction of adiabatic excitation energy upon further compression. This study can provide a theoretical basis for the rational design and performance control of the piezochromic luminescent materials.

Discovering extremely low confinement-loss anti-resonant fibers via swarm intelligence.

In this work, we obtain extremely low confinement-loss (CL) anti-resonant fibers (ARFs) via swarm intelligence, specifically the particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm. We construct a complex search space of ARFs with two layers of cladding and nested tubes. There are three and four structures of cladding tubes in the first and second layer, respectively. The ARFs are optimized by using the PSO algorithm in terms of both the structures and the parameters. The optimal structure is obtained from a total of 415900 ARFs structures, with the lowest CL being 2.839×10-7 dB/m at a wavelength of 1.55 µm. We observe that the number of ARF structures with CL less than 1×10-6 dB/m in our search space is 370. These structures mainly comprise four designs of ARFs. The results show that the optimal ARF structures realized by the PSO algorithm are different from the ARFs reported in the previous literature. This means that the swarm intelligence accelerates the design and invention of ARFs and also provides new insights regarding the ARF structures. This work provides a fast and effective approach to design ARFs with special requirements. In addition to providing high-performance ARF structures, this work transforms the ARF designs from experience-driven to data-driven.

Use of machine learning to efficiently predict the confinement loss in anti-resonant hollow-core fiber.

The fundamental mode confinement loss (CL) of anti-resonant hollow-core fiber (ARF) is efficiently predicted by a classification task of machine learning. The structure-parameter vector is utilized to define the sample space of ARFs. The CL of labeled samples at 1550 nm is numerically calculated via the finite element method (FEM). The magnitude of CL is obtained by a classification task via a decision tree and k-nearest neighbors algorithms with the training and test sets generated by 290700 and 32300 labeled samples. The test accuracy, confusion matrices, and the receiver operating characteristic curves have shown that our proposed method is effective for predicting the magnitude of CL with a short computation runtime compared to FEM simulation. The feasibility of predicting other performance parameters by the extension of our method, as well as its ability to generalize outside the tested sample space, is also discussed. It is likely that the proposed sample definition and the use of a classification approach can be adopted for design application beyond efficient prediction of ARF CL and inspire artificial intelligence and data-driven-based research of photonic structures.

Single Chain Mean-Field Theory Study on Responsive Behavior of Semiflexible Polymer Brush.

The application of single chain mean-field theory (SCMFT) on semiflexible chain brushes is reviewed. The worm-like chain (WLC) model is the best mode of semiflexible chain that can continuously recover to the rigid rod model and Gaussian chain (GC) model in rigid and flexible limits, respectively. Compared with the commonly used GC model, SCMFT is more applicable to the WLC model because the algorithmic complexity of the WLC model is much higher than that of the GC model in self-consistent field theory (SCFT). On the contrary, the algorithmic complexity of both models in SCMFT are comparable. In SCMFT, the ensemble average of quantities is obtained by sampling the conformations of a single chain or multi-chains in the external auxiliary field instead of solving the modified diffuse equation (MDE) in SCFT. The precision of this calculation is controlled by the number of bonds Nm used to discretize the chain contour length L and the number of conformations M used in the ensemble average. The latter factor can be well controlled by metropolis Monte Carlo simulation. This approach can be easily generalized to solve problems with complex boundary conditions or in high-dimensional systems, which were once nightmares when solving MDEs in SCFT. Moreover, the calculations in SCMFT mainly relate to the assemble averages of chain conformations, for which a portion of conformations can be performed parallel on different computing cores using a message-passing interface (MPI).

Two-dimensional two-photon absorptions and third-order nonlinear optical properties of Ih fullerenes and fullerene onions.

The third order static and dynamic nonlinear optical (NLO) responses of Ih symmetry fullerenes (C60, C240, and C540) and fullerene onions (C60@C240 and C60@C240@C540) are predicted using the ZINDO method and the sum-over-states model. The static second hyperpolarizability of Ih symmetry fullerenes increases exponentially with fullerene size [from 10.00 × 10-34 esu in C60 to 3266.74 × 10-34 esu ≈ γ0(C60) × 92.63 in C540]. The external fields of strong third order NLO responses of Ih symmetry fullerenes change from ultra-violet (C60) to the visible region (C540) as the fullerene size increases. The outer layer fullerene in the fullerene onions has dominant contributions to the third order NLO properties of the fullerene onions, and the inter-shell charge-transfer excitations have conspicuous contributions to the third order NLO properties. The two-dimensional two-photon absorption spectra of C60 and C240 show that those fullerenes have strong two-photon absorptions in the visible region with short wavelength and in the ultra-violet region.

Why Do Simple Molecules with "Isolated" Phenyl Rings Emit Visible Light?

π-Bonds connected with aromatic rings were generally believed as the standard structures for constructing highly efficient fluorophores. Materials without these typical structures, however, exhibited only low fluorescence quantum yields and emitted in the ultraviolet spectral region. In this work, three molecules, namely bis(2,4,5-trimethylphenyl)methane, 1,1,2,2-tetrakis(2,4,5-trimethylphenyl)ethane, and 1,1,2,2-tetraphenylethane, with nonconjugated structures and isolated phenyl rings were synthesized and their photophysical properties were systematically investigated. Interestingly, the emission spectra of these three molecules could be well extended to 600 nm with high solid-state quantum yields of up to 70%. Experimental and theoretical analyses proved that intramolecular through-space conjugation between the "isolated" phenyl rings played an important role for this abnormal phenomenon.

Using the isotope effect to probe an aggregation induced emission mechanism: theoretical prediction and experimental validation.

Aggregation-induced emission (AIE) has become a hot topic for a variety of potential applications, but the understanding of its working mechanism is still under scrutiny. Herein, we proposed the use of the isotope effect (IE) to identify the AIE mechanism: under the restriction of an internal motion mechanism, the IE is pronouncedly different in excited-state decay rates when contrasting AIE luminogens (AIEgens) and non-AIEgens in theoretical calculations. For the complete deuteration of AIEgens, the IE of nonradiative decay rate in solution (<-10%) is much weaker than that (-65% to -95%) in aggregate, because the former stems from the overall results of competitive vibronic coupling and the severe mixing of low-frequency modes while the latter mainly comes from the vibronic coupling only. The experimental results confirm the isotopic "jump" behaviors in AIEgens well. However, non-AIEgens exhibit equivalent IEs (-40% to -90%) in both solution and solid phases. Further partial deuteration schemes for the 6-ring AIE analogues show positional dependence.

A Study of Excitation Delocalization/Localization in Multibranched Chromophores by Using Fluorescence Excitation Anisotropy Spectroscopy.

We describe a simple approach to study the excitation localization/delocalization in multibranched chromophores by using fluorescence excitation anisotropy spectroscopy at room temperature. As examples, the electronic excitations in three different multibranched chromophores (dimers) are investigated. For a weakly coupled dimer, fluorescence anisotropy is independent of excitation wavelength, due to localized excitation as well as the degenerate electronic excited states. In contrast, in the case of a strongly coupled dimer, owing to excitonic splitting, a redistribution of the excitation energy is demonstrated by the dependence of anisotropy spectra on the excitation wavelength, which leads to significant deviation from the anisotropy signal of localized excitation. In particular, based on the law of additivity for anisotropy, the degree of delocalized excitation can be simply estimated for a given dimer.

Excited-State Deactivation of Branched Phthalocyanine Compounds.

The excited-state relaxation dynamics and chromophore interactions in two phthalocyanine compounds (bis- and trisphthalocyanines) are studied by using steady-state and femtosecond transient absorption spectral measurements, where the excited-state energy-transfer mechanism is explored. By exciting phthalocyanine compounds to their second electronically excited states and probing the subsequent relaxation dynamics, a multitude of deactivation pathways are identified. The transient absorption spectra show the relaxation pathway from the exciton state to excimer state and then back to the ground state in bisphthalocyanine (bis-Pc). In trisphthalocyanine (tris-Pc), the monomeric and dimeric subunits are excited and the excitation energy transfers from the monomeric vibrationally hot S1 state to the exciton state of a pre-associated dimer, with subsequent relaxation to the ground state through the excimer state. The theoretical calculations and steady-state spectra also show a face-to-face conformation in bis-Pc, whereas in tris-Pc, two of the three phthalocyanine branches form a pre-associated face-to-face dimeric conformation with the third one acting as a monomeric unit; this is consistent with the results of the transient absorption experiments from the perspective of molecular structure. The detailed structure-property relationships in phthalocyanine compounds is useful for exploring the function of molecular aggregates in energy migration of natural photosynthesis systems.

Solvent-dependent intramolecular charge transfer delocalization/localization in multibranched push-pull chromophores.

The effect of the solvent polarity on excitation delocalization/localization in multibranched push-pull chromophores has been thoroughly explored by combining steady state absorption and fluorescence, as well as femtosecond transient spectral measurements. We found that the excited-state relaxations of the push-pull chromophores are highly dependent on both solvent polarity and the polar degree of the excited intramolecular charge transfer states. The symmetry of multibranched chromophores is preserved in less polar solvents, leading to excitation delocalization over all of the branches because of the negligible solvent reaction field. In contrast, symmetry is broken for multibranched chromophores in more polar solvents because of intense solvent reaction field, and the excitation is consequently localized on one of the dipolar molecular branches. The results provide a fundamental understanding of solvent-dependent excitation delocalization/localization properties of the multibranched chromophores for the potential applications in nonlinear optics and energy-harvesting applications.

Energy transfer and spectroscopic characterization of a perylenetetracarboxylic diimide (PDI) hexamer.

We report a comprehensive study on a newly synthesized perylenetetracarboxylic diimide (PDI) hexamer together with its corresponding monomer and dimer by means of steady-state absorption and fluorescence as well as femtosecond broadband transient absorption measurements. The structure of the PDI hexamer is nearly arranged in a 3-fold symmetry by three identical and separated dimers. This unique structure makes the excited state energy relaxation processes more complex due to the existence of two different intramolecular interactions: a strong interaction between face-to-face PDIs in dimers and a relatively weak interaction between the three separated PDI dimers. The steady-state spectra and the ground state structural optimization show that the steric effect plays a dominant role in keeping the formation of the face-to-face stacked PDI-dimer within the PDI-hexamer, indicating that some level of a pre-associated excimer had formed already in the ground state for the dimer in the hexamer. Femtosecond transient absorption experiments on the PDI hexamer reveal a fast (∼200 fs) localization process and a sequential relaxation to a pre-associated excimer trap state from the delocalized exciton state with about 1.2 ps after the initially delocalized excitation. Meanwhile, excitation energy transfer among the three separated dimers within the PDI-hexamer is also revealed by the anisotropic femtosecond pump-probe transient experiments, where the hopping time is about 2.8 ps. A relaxed excimer state is further formed in 7.9 ps after energy hopping and conformational relaxation.

Single-molecule spectroscopy and femtosecond transient absorption studies on the excitation energy transfer process in ApcE(1-240) dimers.

ApcE(1-240) dimers with one intrinsic phycocyanobilin (PCB) chromophore in each monomer that is truncated from the core-membrane linker (ApcE) of phycobilisomes (PBS) in Nostoc sp. PCC 7120 show a sharp and significantly red-shifted absorption. Two explanations either conformation-dependent Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) or the strong exciton coupling limit have been proposed for red-shifted absorption. This is a classic example of the special pair in the photosynthetic light harvesting proteins, but the mechanism of this interaction is still a matter of intense debate. We report the studies using single-molecule and transient absorption spectra on the interaction in the special pair of ApcE dimers. Our results demonstrate the presence of conformation-dependent FRET between the two PCB chromophores in ApcE dimers. The broad distributions of fluorescence intensities, lifetimes and polarization difference from single-molecule measurements reveal the heterogeneity of local protein-pigment environments in ApcE dimers, where the same molecular structures but different protein environments are the main reason for the two PCB chromophores with different spectral properties. The excitation energy transfer rate between the donor and the acceptor about (110 ps)(-1) is determined from transient absorption measurements. The red-shifted absorption in ApcE dimers could result from more extending conformation, which shows another type of absorption redshift that does not depend on strong exciton coupling. The results here stress the importance of conformation-controlled spectral properties of the chemically identical chromophores, which could be a general feature to control energy/electron transfer, widely existing in the light harvesting complexes.

Ultrafast relaxation dynamics of phosphine-protected, rod-shaped Au20 clusters: interplay between solvation and surface trapping.

The exact interaction between Au cores and surface ligands remains largely unknown because of the complexity of the structure and chemistry of ligand/Au-core interfaces in ligand-protected Au nanoclusters (AuNCs), which are commonly found in many organic-inorganic complexes. Here, femtosecond transient absorption measurement of the excited-state dynamics of a newly synthesized phosphine-protected cluster [Au20(PPhpy2)10Cl4]Cl2 (1) is reported. Intramolecular charge transfer (ICT) from the Au core to the peripheral ligands was identified. Furthermore, we found that solvation strongly affected ICT at ligand/Au-core interfaces while by choosing several typical alcoholic solvents with different intrinsic solvation times, we successfully observed that excited-state relaxation dynamics together with displacive excited coherent oscillation of Au20 clusters were significantly modulated through the competition between solvation and surface trapping. The results provide a fundamental understanding of the structure-property relationships of the solvation-dependent core-shell interaction of AuNCs for the potential applications in catalysis, sensing and nanoelectronics.

Aggregation effects on the optical emission of 1,1,2,3,4,5-hexaphenylsilole (HPS): a QM/MM study.

We investigate the photophysical property for 1,1,2,3,4,5-hexaphenylsilole (HPS) through combined quantum mechanical and molecular mechanical (QM/MM) simulations. Under the displaced harmonic oscillator approximation with consideration of the Duschinsky rotation effect (DRE), the radiative and nonradiative rates of the excited-state decay processes for HPS are calculated by using the analytical vibration correlation function approach coupled with first-principles calculations. The intermolecular packing effect is incorporated through electrostatic interaction modeled by a force field. We find that from the gas phase to the solid state (i) the side phenyl ring at the 5-position becomes coplanar with the central silacycle, which increases the degree of conjugation, thus accelerating the radiative decay process, and (ii) the rotation of the side phenyl ring at the 2-position is restricted, which blocks the excited-state nonradiative decay channels. Such a synergetic effect largely enhances the solid-state luminescence quantum efficiency through reducing the nonradiative decay rate by about 4 orders of magnitude, leading to the radiative decay overwhelming the nonradiatvie decay. In addition, the calculated solid-phase absorption and emission optical spectra of HPS are found to be in agreement with the experiment.

Tetrahydro[5]helicene-based imide dyes with intense fluorescence in both solution and solid state.

A new kind of tetrahydro[5]helicene-based imide dyes with intense fluorescence and large Stokes shifts in both solution and solid state were developed and theoretically investigated.

Intramolecular charge transfer and solvation dynamics of thiolate-protected Au20(SR)16 clusters studied by ultrafast measurement.

It is accepted that the monolayer ligand shell in monolayer-protected gold nanoclusters (MPCs) plays an important role in stabilizing the metal core structure. Previous reports have shown that the core and shell do not interact chemically, and very few studies investigating the intramolecular charge transfer (ICT) between the core and ligand shell in clusters have been reported. The underlying excited state relaxation mechanisms about the influence of solvents, the optically excited vibration, and the roles of the core and shell in charge transfer remain unknown to a large extent. Here we report a femtosecond transient absorption study of a Au20(SR)16 (R = CH2CH2Ph) cluster in toluene and tetrahydrofuran. The ICT from the outside shell to the inside core upon excitation in Au20(SR)16 is identified. The observed solvation-dependent oscillations in different solvents further confirm the photoinduced ICT formation in Au20(SR)16. The results provide a fundamental understanding of the structure-property relationships about the solvation-dependent core-shell interaction in Au MPCs.