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Temperature-dependent absorption and ultrafast luminescence dynamics of [Au25(PPh3)10(SC6)5Cl2 ]2+ (Au25-rod) was studied and compared with [Au25(SC6)18]− (Au25-sphere) and Au38(SC2Ph)24 (Au38-rod) to understand the influence of the crystal structure on the optical properties of monolayer protected gold clusters. The temperature-dependent absorption of Au25-rod shows a shift in the absorption maximum to high energies and a small increase in the oscillator strength with decrease in temperature. The energy shift was modeled via the O’Donnell and Chen relationship, which yielded average phonon energy of 160 ± 80 cm–1, quite smaller than the 350 cm–1 observed for Au25-sphere and Au38-rod. There is an increase in the oscillator strength with a decrease in temperature of about 40% for Au25-rod while it is nearly 250% for Au25-sphere and more than 180% for Au38-rod. The oscillator strength increase is attributed to the coupling of core-gold exciton and shell-gold phonons. The smaller increase in the oscillator strength for Au25-rod is consistent with its structure that possesses no shell-gold. Femtosecond luminescence measurements carried out on Au25-rod clusters show wavelength-independent ultrafast luminescence decay traces. The lifetimes from the analysis are consistent with the relaxation of higher energy states. In contrast, Au25-sphere and Au38-rod clusters show specific wavelength-dependent luminescence growth and decay, representing the relaxation of core-gold states to shell-gold states.

The dynamics of interfacial charge transfer across (E)-3-(5-((4-(9H-carbazol-9-yl)phenyl)ethynyl)thiophen-2-yl)-2-cyanoacrylic acid (CT-CA) and TiO 2 nanocomposites was studied with femtosecond transient absorption, fluorescence upconversion, and molecular quantum dynamics simulations. The investigated dye, CT-CA is a push−pull chromophore that has an intramolecular charge-transfer (ICT) excited state and binds strongly with the surface of TiO 2 nanoparticles. Ultrafast transient absorption and fluorescence measurements, in both solution and thin film samples, were carried out to probe the dynamics of electron injection and charge recombination. Multiexponential electron injection with time constants of <150 fs, 850 fs, and 8.5 ps were observed from femtosecond fluorescence measurements in solution and on thin films. Femtosecond transient absorption measurements show similar multiexponential electron injection and confirm that the picosecond electron injection component arises from the excited ICT state of the CT-CA/TiO 2 complex. Quantum dynamics calculations also show the presence of a slow component (30%) in the electron injection dynamics although most of the electron injection (70%) takes place in less than 20 fs. The slow component of electron injection, from the local ICT state, is attributed to the energetic position of the excited state, which is close to, or slightly below, the conduction band edge. In addition, the transient bleach of CT-CA on the TiO 2 surface is shifted to longer wavelengths when compared to its absorption spectrum and the transient bleach is further shifted to longer wavelengths with charge recombination. These features are attributed to transient Stark shifts that arise from the local electric fields generated at the dye/TiO 2 interface due to charge-transfer interactions.

Desorption electrospray ionization (DESI) directly analyzes soluble chemical components present on surfaces when a pneumatically assisted electrospray is directed at the sample. Here we demonstrate that the same spray desorption mechanism that operates in DESI can be used as a general technique to collect soluble materials present on surfaces. After desorption analytes are collected on a suitable collection surface, large areas can be scanned and collected onto a small collected area, which allows for preconcentration of low abundance material before analysis. This collection surface can then subsequently be analyzed by DESI but also by many other techniques such as gas chromatography-mass spectrometry or UV-vis spectroscopy. In addition this technique can be used to study desorption mechanisms in DESI independently from ionization mechanisms. Preliminary results indicate that the optimized conditions in DESI are a compromise between those conditions that are optimum for desorption and conditions that lead to efficient ionization.

A new class of electrochemical sensors, namely, electrodes based on diamond paste, was designed using monocrystalline diamond (natural diamond 1 microm and synthetic diamond, 50 microm (synthetic-1) and 1 microm (synthetic-2)) powder and paraffin oil. The characterization of the electrodes was performed using cyclic voltammetry and differential pulse voltammetry. Fe(II) was determined by differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) at 75 mV (vs Ag/AgCl) using all diamond paste-based electrodes. The linear concentration range was between 10(-8) and 10(-4) mol/L for both the natural diamond and synthetic-2 with detection limits of 10(-10) and 10(-9) mol/L, respectively, whereas the linear concentration range for synthetic-1 was between 10(-7) and 10(-3) mol/L with a detection limit of 10(-8) mol/L Fe(II) was determined successfully from four types of pharmaceutical products. The recovery values of Fe(II) in the pharmaceutical products were higher than 98.00% with relative standard deviation values < 5%.