Ultrafast photoinduced energy and charge transfer: concluding remarks

Abstract

The ability to characterize and control the energy and charge transfer events triggered by the photoexcitation of molecules and materials is of fundamental importance to many fields, including the sustainable capture and conversion of solar energy. This article summarizes the papers that were presented and discussed at the recent Faraday discussion meeting on ultrafast photoinduced energy and charge transfer. Ultrafast laser spectroscopy and theory were at the center of discussions on photoinduced phenomena in biological and nanoscale systems of interacting absorbers. Many of the questions that motivate this field of science have occupied scientists for many decades, as a look back to a Faraday discussion meeting that took place 60 years earlier reveals.