Aqueous-Based Photocurrent Generation by Fluorescence Resonance Energy Transfer between Conjugated Oligoelectrolytes and Erythrosin B

Abstract

Aqueous-based, environmentally friendly photocurrent generation has been highlighted to produce electricity by mimicking photosynthesis in nature. We fabricated a photocurrent generation system using a conjugated oligoelectrolyte (COE) assembled in lipid vesicles and a fluorescence dye, and investigated the fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) between two species and the influence of FRET on the photocurrent generation. The FRET efficiency from the electron donor, COE, to the electron acceptor, the dye, increased with the dye concentrations, but the photocurrent increased and then decreased with the dye concentrations. We discussed about the role of FRET and electron shuttles over the variation of photocurrent.