Acentric 2-D Ensembles of D-br-A Electron-Transfer Chromophores via Vectorial Orientation within Amphiphilic n-Helix Bundle Peptides for Photovoltaic Device Applications

摘要

We show that simply designed amphiphilic 4-helix bundle peptides can be utilized to vectorially-orient a linearly-extended Donor-bridge-Acceptor (D-br-A) electron transfer (ET) chromophore within its core. The bundle’s interior is shown to provide a unique solvation environment for the D-br-A assembly not accessible in conventional solvents, and thereby control the magnitudes of both light-induced ET and thermal charge recombination rate constants. The amphiphilicity of the bundle’s exterior was employed to vectorially-orient the peptide-chromophore complex at a liquid-gas interface, and its ends tailored for subsequent covalent attachment to an inorganic surface, via a “directed assembly” approach. Structural data, combined with evaluation of the excited state dynamics exhibited by these peptide-chromophore complexes, demonstrates that densely-packed, acentrically ordered 2-D monolayer ensembles of such complexes at high in-plane chromophore densities approaching 1/200Ų offer unique potential as active layers in binary heterojucntion photovoltaic devices.