Pentacene dimers bridged by a phenylene at ortho and meta positions [denoted as o-(Pc) and m-(Pc)] were synthesized to examine intramolecular orientation-dependent multiexciton dynamics, especially focusing on singlet fission (SF) and recombination from correlated triplet pairs [(TT)]. Absorption and electrochemical measurements indicated strong intramolecular couplings of o-(Pc) relative to m-(Pc). Femtosecond and nanosecond TA measurements successfully demonstrated efficient SF in both dimers. In contrast, the dissociation process from the (TT) to the individual triplets [(2 × T)] was clearly observed in m-(Pc), which is in sharp contrast to a major recombination process in o-(Pc). Time-resolved electron spin resonance (TR-ESR) measurements demonstrated that the recombination and dissociation proceed from the quintet state of (TT) in m-(Pc). The rate constant of the SF was 2 orders of magnitude greater in o-(Pc) than that in m-(Pc) and was rationalized by enhanced electronic coupling between adjacent HOMOs of the Pc units.
Singlet fission (SF) is expected to improve photoenergy conversion systems by generating two electrons from one photon. Pentacenes meet the energy-level matching condition between a singlet and two triplet states: [E(S )≥2E(T )]. However, the molar absorption coefficients of pentacenes in the approximately 400-500 nm region are limited, whereas quantum dots, such as CdSe/ZnS (QD), possess high fluorescence quantum yields and particle-size-dependent fluorescence wavelengths. Thus, a combination of QD (D) and pentacene (A) provides a system of both an enhanced light-harvesting efficiency throughout the solar spectrum and an efficient conversion of the harvested light into the triplet states by SF. Based on these points, m-phenylene-bridged triisopropylsilane (TIPS)-pentacene dimer-functionalized QD (denoted as m-(Pc) -QD) was synthesized to examine the sequential photoinduced process from energy transfer to SF. In femtosecond transient absorption measurements, initial energy transfer from QD to pentacene (quantum yield: 87 %) and subsequent SF were efficiently observed. The quantum yield of triplet states of pentacene units (Φ ) based on the excitation of QD attained is 160±6.7 %.
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