Nanoparticle-doped electrospun fiber random lasers with spatially extended light modes

Complex assemblies of light-emitting polymer nanofibers with molecular materials exhibiting optical gain can lead to important advance to amorphous photonics and to random laser science and devices. In disordered mats of nanofibers, multiple scattering and waveguiding might interplay to determine localization or spreading of optical modes as well as correlation effects. Here we study electrospun fibers embedding a lasing fluorene-carbazole-fluorene molecule and doped with titania nanoparticles, which exhibit random lasing with sub-nm spectral width and threshold of about 9 mJ cm^-2 for the absorbed excitation fluence. We focus on the spatial and spectral behavior of optical modes in the disordered and non-woven networks, finding evidence for the presence of modes with very large spatial extent, up to the 100 micrometer-scale. These findings suggest emission coupling into integrated nanofiber transmission channels as effective mechanism for enhancing spectral selectivity in random lasers and correlations of light modes in the complex and disordered material.Comment: 22 pages, 6 figure

Diverse regimes of mode intensity correlation in nanofiber random lasers through nanoparticle doping

Random lasers are based on disordered materials with optical gain. These devices can exhibit either intensity or resonant feedback, relying on diffusive or interference behaviour of light, respectively, which leads to either coupling or independent operation of lasing modes. We study for the first time these regimes in complex, solid-state nanostructured materials. The number of lasing modes and their intensity correlation features are found to be tailorable in random lasers made of light-emitting, electrospun polymer fibers upon nanoparticle doping. By material engineering, directional waveguiding along the length of fibers is found to be relevant to enhance mode correlation in both intensity feedback and resonant feedback random lasing. The here reported findings can be used to establish new design rules for tuning the emission of nano-lasers and correlation properties by means of the compositional and morphological properties of complex nanostructured materials.Comment: 30 pages, 10 figure

The Role of Triplet Exciton Diffusion in Light-Upconverting Polymer Glasses

Light upconversion (UC) via triplet-triplet annihilation (TTA) by using noncoherent photoexcitation at subsolar irradiance power densities is extremely attractive, particularly for enhanced solar energy harvesting. Unfortunately, practical TTA-UC application is hampered by low UC efficiency of upconverting polymer glasses, which is commonly attributed to poor exciton diffusion of the triplet excitons across emitter molecules. The present study addresses this issue by systematically evaluating triplet exciton diffusion coefficients and diffusion lengths (LD) in a UC model system based on platinum-octaethylporphyrin-sensitized poly(methyl methacrylate)/diphenylanthracene (emitter) films as a function of emitter concentration (15-40 wt %). For this evaluation time resolved photoluminescence bulk-quenching technique followed by Stern Volmer-type quenching analysis of experimental data was employed. The key finding is that although increasing emitter concentration in the disordered PMMA/DPA/PtOEP films improves triplet exciton diffusion, and thus LD, this does not result in enhanced UC quantum yield. Conversely, improved LD accompanied by the accelerated decay of UC intensity on millisecond time scale degrades TTA-UC performance at high emitter loadings (\u3e25 wt %) and suggests that diffusion-enhanced nonradiative decay of triplet excitons is the major limiting factor

Thermal and Optical Properties of Red Luminescent Glass Forming Symmetric and Non Symmetric Styryl-4H-Pyran-4-Ylidene Fragment Containing Derivatives

Dyes with amorphous structure deposited from organic solvents and having good fluorescence properties show potential for photonic device applications. Organic glass-forming symmetric and non symmetric styryl- derivatives of 2(2,6-substituted-4H-pyran-4-ylidene)-malononitrile (it has backbone of known laser dye 4-(dicyanomethylene)-2-methyl-6-[p-(dimethylamino)styryl]-4H-pyran), 2(2,6-substituted- 4H-pyran-4-ylidene)-1H-indene-1,3(2H)-dione and 2(2,6-substituted-4H-pyran-4-ylidene)-pyrimidine- 2,4,6(1H,3H,5H)-trione were synthesized and investigated. Glass transition temperatures higher than 110 C were achieved. The absorption bands in dichloromethane solution cover the spectral region from 450 nm to 600 nm with fluorescence maxima between 580 nm and 690 nm. Photoluminescence quantum yields of the compounds in solution are between 0.3 and 0.54, which is reduced by one order in thin amorphous film prepared from volatile organic solvents. Incorporation of bulky trityloxyethyl groups in the derivatives results in significant reduction of aggregate formation. Thus fluorescence concentration quenching is reduced, enabling higher doping levels as compared to the unsubstituted 4-(dicyanomethylene)- 2-methyl-6-[p-(dimethylamino)styryl]-4H-pyran dye

Synthesis and Properties of Ditriazolylpurine Nucleosides

The synthesis of new 2,6-bis-ditriazolylpurine nucleosides is described and reactions with different nucleophiles studied

Structure Properties Relationship of Donor–Acceptor Derivatives of Triphenylamine and 1,8-Naphthalimide

Solution-processable donor–acceptor molecules consisting of triphenylamine core and 1,8-naphthalimide arms were designed and synthesized by palladium-catalyzed Heck reaction. Dilute solutions of the synthesized compounds show strong absorption peaks in the visible wavelength range from 400 to 550 nm, which can be ascribed to the intramolecular charge transfer. Fluorescence quantum yields of dilute solutions of the synthesized materials range from 0.45 to 0.70, while those of the solid samples are in the range of 0.09–0.18. The synthesized molecules exhibit high thermal stability with the thermal degradation onset temperatures ranging from 431 to 448 °C. The compounds form glasses with glass-transition temperatures of 55–107 °C. DFT calculations show that HOMO and LUMO orbitals are almost entirely localized on the donor and acceptor moieties, respectively. Consequently, the frontier orbital energies for the three synthesized compounds are similar and practically do not depend on the number of 1,8-naphthalimide moieties. Ionization potentials of the solid samples (5.75–5.80 eV) are comparable. The charge-transporting properties of the synthesized materials were studied using xerographic time-of-flight method. Hole mobilities in the layers of the compounds having one and two 1,8-naphthalimide moieties exceed 10^–3 cm²·V^–1·s^–1 at high electric fields at room temperature. The differences on the hole mobilities between the three synthesized compounds are discussed in the frame of Marcus theory by comparing the reorganization energy and electronic coupling parameters

Proof of principle of a purine D–A–D′ ligand based ratiometric chemical sensor harnessing complexation induced intermolecular PET

A comprehensive photophysical study of a series of purines, doubly decorated at C2 and C6 positions with identical fragments ranging from electron acceptor to donor groups of different strengths, is presented. The asymmetry of substitutions creates a unique molecular D-AD 0 structure possessing two independent electronic charge transfer (CT) systems attributed to each fragment and exhibiting dual-band fluorescence. Moreover, the inherent property of coordination of metal ions by purines was enriched due to a presence of nearby triazoles used as spacers for donor or acceptor fragments. New molecules present a bidentate coordination mode, which makes the assembly of several ligands with one metal cation possible. This property was exploited to create a new concept of a ratiometric chemical fluorescence sensor involving the photoinduced electron transfer between branches of different ligands as a mechanism of fluorescence modulation

Proof of principle of a purine D–A–D′ ligand based ratiometric chemical sensor harnessing complexation induced intermolecular PET

A comprehensive photophysical study of a series of purines, doubly decorated at C2 and C6 positions with identical fragments ranging from electron acceptor to donor groups of different strengths, is presented. The asymmetry of substitutions creates a unique molecular D-AD 0 structure possessing two independent electronic charge transfer (CT) systems attributed to each fragment and exhibiting dual-band fluorescence. Moreover, the inherent property of coordination of metal ions by purines was enriched due to a presence of nearby triazoles used as spacers for donor or acceptor fragments. New molecules present a bidentate coordination mode, which makes the assembly of several ligands with one metal cation possible. This property was exploited to create a new concept of a ratiometric chemical fluorescence sensor involving the photoinduced electron transfer between branches of different ligands as a mechanism of fluorescence modulation

V‑Shaped Hole-Transporting TPD Dimers Containing Tröger’s Base Core

V-shaped hole transporting materials based on <i>N</i>,<i>N</i>,<i>N</i>′,<i>N</i>′-tetraarylbenzidine (TPD)-type moieties conjoined by Tröger’s base core were synthesized and investigated. These hole transporting materials were obtained by a three-step synthetic method, are fully amorphous, and demonstrate high glass transition temperatures and good thermal and morphological stability. Relatively high charge mobility (up to 0.036 cm² V ^–1 s^–1) was measured in these hole transporting materials, exceeding that of corresponding methyl and methoxy substituted TPD analogues without TB core by more than 2 orders of magnitude. Determined ionization potential and charge mobility values permit use of the synthesized compounds as hole transporting materials in fabrication of perovskite solar cells