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Xia P, Raulerson EK, Coleman D, et al. Achieving spin-triplet exciton transfer between silicon and molecular acceptors for photon upconversion. Nat Chem. 2019;12(2):137-144doi: 10.1038/s41557-019-0385-8.
Xia, P., Raulerson, E. K., Coleman, D., Gerke, C. S., Mangolini, L., Tang, M. L., & Roberts, S. T. (2020). Achieving spin-triplet exciton transfer between silicon and molecular acceptors for photon upconversion. Nature chemistry, 12(2), 137-144. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41557-019-0385-8
Xia, Pan, et al. "Achieving spin-triplet exciton transfer between silicon and molecular acceptors for photon upconversion." Nature chemistry vol. 12,2 (2020): 137-144. doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41557-019-0385-8
Xia P, Raulerson EK, Coleman D, Gerke CS, Mangolini L, Tang ML, Roberts ST. Achieving spin-triplet exciton transfer between silicon and molecular acceptors for photon upconversion. Nat Chem. 2020 Feb;12(2):137-144. doi: 10.1038/s41557-019-0385-8. Epub 2019 Dec 02. PMID: 31792389.
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Nat Chem. 2020 Feb;12(2):137-144. doi: 10.1038/s41557-019-0385-8. Epub 2019 Dec 02.

Achieving spin-triplet exciton transfer between silicon and molecular acceptors for photon upconversion.

Nature chemistry

Pan Xia, Emily K Raulerson, Devin Coleman, Carter S Gerke, Lorenzo Mangolini, Ming Lee Tang, Sean T Roberts

Affiliations

  1. Materials Science and Engineering Program, University of California Riverside, Riverside, CA, USA.
  2. Department of Chemistry, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA.
  3. Department of Chemistry, University of California Riverside, Riverside, CA, USA.
  4. Materials Science and Engineering Program, University of California Riverside, Riverside, CA, USA. [email protected].
  5. Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of California Riverside, Riverside, CA, USA. [email protected].
  6. Materials Science and Engineering Program, University of California Riverside, Riverside, CA, USA. [email protected].
  7. Department of Chemistry, University of California Riverside, Riverside, CA, USA. [email protected].
  8. Department of Chemistry, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA. [email protected].

PMID: 31792389 DOI: 10.1038/s41557-019-0385-8

Abstract

Inorganic semiconductor nanocrystals interfaced with spin-triplet exciton-accepting organic molecules have emerged as promising materials for converting incoherent long-wavelength light into the visible range. However, these materials to date have made exclusive use of nanocrystals containing toxic elements, precluding their use in biological or environmentally sensitive applications. Here, we address this challenge by chemically functionalizing non-toxic silicon nanocrystals with triplet-accepting anthracene ligands. Photoexciting these structures drives spin-triplet exciton transfer from silicon to anthracene through a single 15 ns Dexter energy transfer step with a nearly 50% yield. When paired with 9,10-diphenylanthracene emitters, these particles readily upconvert 488-640 nm photons to 425 nm violet light with efficiencies as high as 7 ± 0.9% and can be readily incorporated into aqueous micelles for biological use. Our demonstration of spin-triplet exciton transfer from silicon to molecular triplet acceptors can critically enable new technologies for solar energy conversion, quantum information and near-infrared driven photocatalysis.

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