Pressure-induced delocalization of photoexcited states in a semiconducting polymer.

We present broadband transient absorption spectroscopy on the fluorescent copolymer poly(9,9-dioctylfluorene-co-benzothiadiazole) under hydrostatic pressure of up to 75 kbar. We observe a strong reduction of the stimulated emission intensity under pressure, coupled with slower decay kinetics and reduced fluorescence intensity. These observations indicate increased delocalization of photogenerated singlet excitons, facilitated by an increased dielectric constant at high pressure. Spin triplet excitons, generated via an iridium complex-F8BT oligomer, show reduced lifetimes under pressure

IEA EBC Annex83 positive energy districts

At a global level, the need for energy efficiency and an increased share of renewable energy sources is evident, as is the crucial role of cities due to the rapid urbanization rate. As a consequence of this, the research work related to Positive Energy Districts (PED) has accelerated in recent years. A common shared definition, as well as technological approaches or methodological issues related to PEDs are still unclear in this development and a global scientific discussion is needed. The International Energy Agency’s Energy in Buildings and Communities Programme (IEA EBC) Annex 83 is the main platform for this international scientific debate and research. This paper describes the challenges of PEDs and the issues that are open for discussions and how the Annex 83 is planned and organized to facilitate this and to actively steer the development of PEDs major leaps forward. The main topics of discussion in the PED context are the role and importance of definitions of PEDs, virtual and geographical boundaries in PEDs, the role of different stakeholders, evaluation approaches, and the learnings of realized PED projects

The nature of singlet exciton fission in carotenoid aggregates.

Singlet exciton fission allows the fast and efficient generation of two spin triplet states from one photoexcited singlet. It has the potential to improve organic photovoltaics, enabling efficient coupling to the blue to ultraviolet region of the solar spectrum to capture the energy generally lost as waste heat. However, many questions remain about the underlying fission mechanism. The relation between intermolecular geometry and singlet fission rate and yield is poorly understood and remains one of the most significant barriers to the design of new singlet fission sensitizers. Here we explore the structure-property relationship and examine the mechanism of singlet fission in aggregates of astaxanthin, a small polyene. We isolate five distinct supramolecular structures of astaxanthin generated through self-assembly in solution. Each is capable of undergoing intermolecular singlet fission, with rates of triplet generation and annihilation that can be correlated with intermolecular coupling strength. In contrast with the conventional model of singlet fission in linear molecules, we demonstrate that no intermediate states are involved in the triplet formation: instead, singlet fission occurs directly from the initial 1B(u) photoexcited state on ultrafast time scales. This result demands a re-evaluation of current theories of polyene photophysics and highlights the robustness of carotenoid singlet fission.This work was supported by the EPSRC (UK) (EP/G060738/ 1), the European Community (LASERLAB-EUROPE, grant agreement no. 284464, EC’s Seventh Framework Programme; and Marie-Curie ITN-SUPERIOR, PITN-GA-2009-238177), and the Winton Programme for the Physics of Sustainability. G.C. acknowledges support by the European Research Council Advanced Grant STRATUS (ERC-2011-AdG No. 291198). J.C. acknowledges support by the Royal Society Dorothy Hodgkin Fellowship and The University of Sheffield’s Vice- Chancellor’s Fellowship scheme.This is the final published version. It was first made available by ACS at http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/jacs.5b01130

Zinc Phthalocyanine−Graphene Hybrid Material for Energy Conversion: Synthesis, Characterization, Photophysics and Photoelectrochemical Cell Preparation

Graphene exfoliation upon tip sonication in o-­‐DCB was accomplished. Then, covalent grafting of (2-­‐ aminoethoxy)(tri-­‐tert-­‐butyl) zinc phthalocyanine (ZnPc), to exfoliated graphene sheets was achieved. The newly formed ZnPc-­‐graphene hybrid material was found soluble in common organic solvents without any precipitation for several weeks. Application of diverse spectroscopic techniques verified the successful formation of ZnPc-­‐graphene hybrid materi-­‐ al, while thermogravimetric analysis revealed the amount of ZnPc loading onto graphene. Microscopy analysis based on AFM and TEM was applied to probe the morphological characteristics and to investigate the exfoliation of graphene sheets. Efficient fluorescence quenching of ZnPc in the ZnPc-­‐graphene hybrid material suggested that photoinduced events occur from the photoexcited ZnPc to exfoliated graphene. The dynamics of the photoinduced electron transfer was evaluated by femtosecond transient absorption spectroscopy, thus, revealing the formation of transient species such as ZnPc+ yielding the charge-­‐separated state ZnPc•+–graphene•–. Finally, the ZnPc-­‐graphene hybrid material was integrated into a photoactive electrode of an optical transparent electrode (OTE) cast with nanostructured SnO2 films (OTE/SnO2), which exhibited sta le and reproducible photocurrent responses and the incident photon-­‐to-­‐current conversion efficien-­‐ cy was determine

Narrowband polarization-entangled photon pairs distributed over a WDM link for qubit networks

We present a bright, narrowband, portable, quasi-phase-matched two-crystal source generating polarization-entangled photon pairs at 809 nm and 1555 nm at a maximum rate of 1.2 10^6 s-1 THz-1 mW-1 after coupling to single-mode fiber. The quantum channel at 1555 nm and the synchronization signal gating the single photon detector are multiplexed in the same optical fiber of length 27 km by means of wavelength division multiplexers (WDM) having 100 GHz (0.8 nm) spacing between channels. This implementation makes quantum communication applications compatible with current high-speed optical networks.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figure

On the role of single regiodefects and polydispersity in regioregular poly(3-hexylthiophene): Defect distribution, synthesis of defect-free chains, and a simple model for the determination of crystallinity

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