1 research outputs found
Transparent and Nonflammable Ionogel Photon Upconverters and Their Solute Transport Properties
Photon
upconversion based on triplet–triplet annihilation
(TTA-UC) is a technology to convert presently wasted sub-bandgap photons
to usable higher-energy photons. In this paper, ionogel TTA-UC samples
are first developed by gelatinizing ionic liquids containing triplet-sensitizing
and light-emitting molecules using an ionic gelator, resulting in
transparent and nonflammable ionogel photon upconverters. The photophysical
properties of the ionogel samples are then investigated, and the results
suggest that the effect of gelation on the diffusion of the solutes
is negligibly small. To further examine this suggestion and acquire
fundamental insight into the solute transport properties of the samples,
the diffusion of charge-neutral solute species over much longer distances
than microscopic interpolymer distances is measured by electrochemical
potential-step chronoamperometry. The results reveal that the diffusion
of solute species is not affected by gelation within the tested gelator
concentration range, supporting our interpretation of the initial
results of the photophysical investigations. Overall, our results
show that the advantage of nonfluidity can be imparted to ionic-liquid-based
photon upconverters without sacrificing molecular diffusion, optical
transparency, and nonflammability