EAPSI: Anion Binding Directed Supramolecular Donor-Acceptor Assemblies for Photoinduced Charge Separa

太阳能是一种极好的可再生能源，因为到达地球表面的太阳辐射几乎是无限的。改善太阳能发电的一个途径是开发采用基于光合作用的仿制系统的太阳能电池。这项研究将涉及电子给体-受体杂化材料的设计、合成和表征，其中光能可以以自由基离子对的形式存储。这项工作将与日本筑波国家材料科学研究所(NIMS)的乔纳森·希尔博士合作进行。这种协作提供了对NIMS可用的独特技术的直接访问。可再生能源的开发是一个具有重大科学意义和社会意义的问题，该项目将对可再生太阳能的开采产生积极的影响。由于化石能源资源的有限及其不断产生的环境问题，对可再生能源的研究至关重要。利用供体-受体系统将太阳能转化为电能或燃料，自然？S收集光能的方法近年来引起了人们的极大兴趣。在这个项目中，我们将在美国国立卫生研究院Hill博士的实验室里合成一种新型的通过阴离子结合的供体-受体偶联物作为宽带捕获光能采集系统。该计划完成后，将在NIMS进行合成、表征、光谱和电化学研究，并使用时间分辨发射和瞬时吸收技术研究导致新开发的共轭化合物中电荷分离的光致电子转移。该奖项由东亚和太平洋夏季学院计划资助一名美国研究生进行的夏季研究，由NSF和日本科学促进会共同资助。

Solar energy is an excellent renewable energy source because of the near unlimited amount of solar radiation that reaches the Earth's surface. An avenue towards improved solar generation is the development of solar cells that employ copycat systems based on photosynthesis. The research will involve design, syntheses, and characterization of electron donor-acceptor hybrids where light energy can be stored in the form of radical ion-pairs. The work will be conducted in collaboration with Dr. Jonathan Hill at the National Institute of Materials Science (NIMS) in Tsukuba, Japan. The collaboration provides direct access to unique techniques available at NIMS. Development of renewable energy sources is a matter of major scientific and social importance, and this project will have a positive impact on renewable solar energy harvesting.Research on renewable energy is essential due to the limited fossil energy resources and environmental problems they continue to generate. Converting solar energy into electricity or fuel using donor-acceptor systems, Nature?s way of harvesting light energy, has gained much interest in recent years. In this project, the development of novel self-assembled via anion binding donor-acceptor conjugates comprised of metalloporphyrin and oxoporphyrinogen as wide band capturing light energy harvesting systems will by synthesized in Dr. Hill's laboratory at NIMS. The syntheses, characterization, spectroscopic and electrochemical studies will be performed at NIMS and photoinduced electron transfer leading to charge separation in the newly developed conjugates will be investigated using time-resolved emission and transient absorption techniques at the University of North Texas under Dr. Francis D'Souza after the program is completed.This award under the East Asia and Pacific Summer Institutes program supports summer research by a U.S. graduate student and is jointly funded by NSF and the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science.