Issue 12, 2014

Antiparallel three-component gradients in double-channel surface architectures

Abstract

The synthesis of multicomponent surface architectures with a thus far inaccessible level of sophistication is accomplished, and the functional relevance of this unprecedented structural complexity is demonstrated. Co-axial channels of oligothiophenes and fullerenes for the transport of holes and electrons, respectively, are equipped with antiparallel-oriented redox gradients with up to three components that drive the charges apart after their generation with light. In the resulting photosystems, charge recombination decreases with each level of sophistication from 29% to 2%, approaching complete suppression. Photocurrents increase correspondingly, and thermal activation barriers decrease. Increasing turn-on voltages for dark current indicates that charges struggle to move backwards up gradients possessing increasing numbers of components. These results demonstrate that the application of the most complex lessons from nature to organic materials is possible and worthwhile, thus supporting curiosity-driven efforts to learn how to synthesize multicomponent architectures of the highest possible sophistication with the highest possible precision.

Graphical abstract: Antiparallel three-component gradients in double-channel surface architectures

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Edge Article
Submitted
15 Jul 2014
Accepted
28 Aug 2014
First published
19 Sep 2014
This article is Open Access

All publication charges for this article have been paid for by the Royal Society of Chemistry
Creative Commons BY-NC license

Chem. Sci., 2014,5, 4610-4614

Author version available

Antiparallel three-component gradients in double-channel surface architectures

H. Hayashi, A. Sobczuk, A. Bolag, N. Sakai and S. Matile, Chem. Sci., 2014, 5, 4610 DOI: 10.1039/C4SC02092H

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications, without requesting further permission from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given and it is not used for commercial purposes.

To request permission to reproduce material from this article in a commercial publication, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party commercial publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements