Photophysical kinetics

Although the studies with SPD techniques have provided significant results on the intermittency in quantum dots, the systems of observation were limited to immobile quantum dots in solids, such as polymer films and glass matrices. The immobilization results in intrinsic heterogeneity of the local environment around each quantum dot the SPD cannot cover the photophysical kinetics in quantum dots in solution of a more homogeneous environment. In addition, the SPD approaches needed conventional bin-time longer than 10 ms for reliable determination of on and off states. This also limits the elucidation of relaxation dynamics for shorter time scales. 

Photosensitization of diaryliodonium salts by anthracene occurs by a photoredox reaction in which an electron is transferred from an excited singlet or triplet state of the anthracene to the diaryliodonium initiator.13"15,17 The lifetimes of the anthracene singlet and triplet states are on the order of nanoseconds and microseconds respectively, and the bimolecular electron transfer reactions between the anthracene and the initiator are limited by the rate of diffusion of reactants, which in turn depends upon the system viscosity. In this contribution, we have studied the effects of viscosity on the rate of the photosensitization reaction of diaryliodonium salts by anthracene. Using steady-state fluorescence spectroscopy, we have characterized the photosensitization rate in propanol/glycerol solutions of varying viscosities. The results were analyzed using numerical solutions of the photophysical kinetic equations in conjunction with the mathematical relationships provided by the Smoluchowski16 theory for the rate constants of the diffusion-controlled bimolecular reactions. 

Figure 8 shows a pair of typical time-resolved fluorescence decay traces for 100 / M pyrene in supercritical CO2 (Tr = 1.02 pr = 1.17). Note that the ordinate is logarithmic. The upper and lower panels show results for selective observation in the monomer (400 +. 10 nm) and excimer (460 + 10 nm) regions of the pyrene emission spectrum. Several interesting features are apparent from these traces. First, both decay processes are not single exponential. Second, the excimer emission has a significant contribution from a species that "grows in" between 30 - 75 ns this is a result of the excimer taking time to form (i.e., k in Figure 1). Third, the fits between the experimental data and the model shown in Figure 1 are good. Detailed analysis of these decay traces (10,11,21-26) yields the entire ensemble of photophysical kinetic parameters for the pyrene excimer in supercritical C02.

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