Light-harvesting nanostructured devices

该项目结合了王尔德（G. Wilde）团队在纳米结构方面的专业知识，以及甄元（Y. Zhen）在合成光响应分子系统方面的专业知识，旨在探索阳极生成的介孔金属氧化物膜的功能化，从而实现能够收集/利用可见光的光功能器件。我们的实验室已经通过阳极氧化（有或没有随后的原子层沉积）合成了几种不同的介孔金属氧化物模板组合，并且已经进行了关于金属氧化物孔与功能分子物种的功能化的初步实验。我们将进一步功能化这些结构，并为两种相互关联的应用组装设备，依靠类似的方法，但利用可见光的物理化学效应不同。特别是，功能化介孔膜为光伏/光催化器件和光导器件/光敏开关的设计提供了具有定义几何形状的规则和可调节模板。本文提出的设计策略将详细了解结构和几何方面的相对重要性，以及详细的结构-活性关系，因为不同功能物种阵列的几何排列可以预先定义。此外，宏观测量结果（相同功能纳米结构的集合）可以与局部测量结果进行比较，以区分由于特定纳米结构和阵列内局部分子相互作用造成的影响。

This project, which brings together the expertise on nanostructuring obtained in the group of G. Wilde with the expertise in synthesizing photo-responsive molecular systems by Y. Zhen, is designed to explore the functionalization of anodically generated mesoporous metal oxide membranes towards photo-functional devices able to harvest/utilize visible light. Several different combinations of mesoporous metal oxide templates have already been synthesized in our laboratories by anodic oxidation (with or without subsequent atomic layer deposition), and initial experiments concerning the functionalization of the metal oxide pores with functional molecular species have already been performed. We shall further functionalize these structures and assemble devices for two inter-related applications relying on similar approaches but different physicochemical effects for utilizing visible light. In particular, functionalized mesoporous membranes providing a regular and adjustable template with defined geometry shall be used for the design of photovoltaic / photocatalytic devices and photoconductive devices / photosensitive switches. The design strategy proposed herein will provide detailed insight into the relative importance of structural and geometrical aspects, as well as detailed structure-activity relationships because the geometrical arrangement of arrays of the different functional species can be pre-defined. Moreover, the results of macroscopic measurements (on the ensemble of identical functional nanostructures) can be compared to local measurements to distinguish between effects due to the particular nanostructure and local molecular interactions within the arrays.