Synthesis and Physico-Chemical Characterization of Molecular Optoelectronic Gates

这项新的合作小组奖授予了北卡罗来纳州立大学的Jonathan S. Lindsey，由化学部门的先进材料项目、材料研究部的电子材料项目以及数学和物理科学理事会的多学科活动办公室提供支持。这项合作是由林赛和加州大学河滨分校的大卫·f·波西安以及华盛顿大学的杜威·霍尔顿共同完成的。合作者的专业知识涵盖分子电子系统的合成，静态表征和动态光物理研究。研究的重点是基于多卟啉阵列的分子光电门的设计、合成和物理表征。栅极是分子线的概念延伸，其中信号传输可以通过放置镁卟啉片段来开启或关闭，该片段通过化学、电化学或光化学氧化打开通道，将激发态能量输送到基态。这些氧化还原驱动的分子门与晶体管开关的操作并行。将研究门控现象的范围、光学门控方法以及与分子门的组合来实现逻辑功能。静态和瞬态吸收和荧光光谱，共振拉曼光谱和电化学将用于表征溶液和薄膜中的系统。时间分辨吸收和荧光测量将在新的阵列上进行，以阐明能量和电子转移的速率和途径。这项研究解决了分子电子学是否在计算机小型化的驱动中是可行的限制以及信息处理是否在分子尺度上是可能的这一基本问题。所制备的分子光电门将模拟传统电路中的固态晶体管。如果成功，分子光电门可能会应用于传感器或其他智能结构的组件。

This new collaborative group award to Jonathan S. Lindsey at North Carolina State University is supported by the Advanced Materials Program in the Chemistry Division, the Electronic Materials Program in the Division of Materials Research and the Office of Multidisciplinary Activities in the Mathematical and Physical Sciences Directorate. The collaboration is between Lindsey and David F. Bocian at the University of California at Riverside and Dewey Holten at Washington University. The expertise of the collaborators spans synthesis, static characterization and dynamic photophysical studies of molecular electronic systems. The focus of the research is the design, synthesis and physical characterization of molecular optoelectronic gates based on multi-porphyrin arrays. The gates are conceptual extensions of molecular wires where the signal transmission can be turned on or off by placement of a magnesium porphyrin moiety which by chemical, electrochemical, or photochemical oxidation opens a channel that funnels excited-state energy to the ground state. These redox-driven molecular gates parallel the operation of transistor switches. The scope of the gating phenomenon, optical gating methods, and and the combination of molecular gates to achieve logic functions will be studied. Static and transient absorption and fluorescence spectroscopy, resonance Raman spectroscopy and electrochemistry will be used to characterize the systems both in solution and as thin films. Time-resolved absorption and fluorescence measurements will be made on the new arrays to elucidate the rates and pathways of energy and electron transfer. This research addresses the fundamental issue of whether molecular electronics are a viable limit in the drive towards computer miniaturization and whether information processing is possible at the molecular scale. The molecular optoelectronic gates which will be prepared will simulate the solid-state transistors in conventional circuitry. If successful, molecular optoelectronic gates may find applications as sensors or as components of other smart structures.