Light-harvesting nanostructured devices

该项目将G.Wilde小组在纳米结构方面的专业知识与Y.Chen在合成光响应分子系统方面的专业知识结合在一起，旨在探索阳极生成的介孔金属氧化物薄膜向能够获取/利用可见光的光功能器件的功能化。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具有功能分子物种的金属氧化物孔的官能化的初步实验。我们将进一步使这些结构功能化，并根据利用可见光的类似方法但不同的物理化学效应，为两种相互关联的应用组装设备。特别是，提供具有限定几何形状的规则和可调节模板的功能化介孔薄膜应用于光伏/光催化器件和光导器件/光敏开关的设计。这里提出的设计策略将提供对结构和几何方面的相对重要性的详细洞察，以及详细的结构-活性关系，因为不同功能物种的阵列的几何排列可以预先定义。此外，宏观测量的结果(关于相同的功能纳米结构的集合)可以与局部测量相比较，以区分由于特定的纳米结构和阵列内的局部分子相互作用而产生的影响。

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.