Organizing Supramolecular Functional Dye-Zeolite Crystals

摘要

Sunlight is absorbed in the antenna system of a green leaf where it is transported by supramolecularly organized chlorophyll molecules for the purpose of energy transformation. The aim of our research is to develop a similar transport of light in an artificial system in which dye-loaded zeolite L crystals adopt the antenna function and to find out if and how this can be used in photoelectronic devices. Organic dye molecules have the tendency to form aggregates even at low concentration. These aggregates are known to generally cause fast thermal relaxation of electronic excitation energy. The main role of the zeolite as a host is to prevent this aggregation and to superimpose a specific organization.[1] We have shown that zeolite L[2] is an ideal host for this purpose. Supramolecular organization of dyes inside the one-dimensional channels of this material has been realized and their communication via stopcock molecules with molecules in the environment with a polymer or a semiconductor as well as solubilization of dye-loaded zeolite L crystals has been demonstrated.