The behavior of excitons and excess electrons in the confined space of a molecular polyoxotitanate cluster Ti17(μ4-O)4(μ3-O)16(μ2-O)4(OPr(i))20 (in short Ti17) was studied using femtosecond pump-probe transient absorption, pulse radiolysis, and fluorescence spectroscopy. Due to pronounced quantum size effects, the electronic spectra of the exciton, Ti17*, and the excess electron carrying radical anion, Ti17(•-), are blue-shifted in comparison with bulk TiO2 and have maxima at 1.91 and 1.24 eV, respectively. The 0.7 eV difference in the position of the absorption maxima of Ti17* and Ti17(•-) indicates the presence of strong Coulomb interaction between the conduction band electron and the valence band hole in the ∼1 nm diameter cluster. Ground state Raman spectra and the vibronic structure of the fluorescence spectrum point to the importance of the interfacial ligand modes in the stabilization and localization of the fully relaxed exciton. Four pentacoordinate Ti sites near the surface of the cluster appear to play a special role in this regard. Solvent polarity has only a minor influence on the spectral behavior of Ti17*. Exciton recombination in Ti17 is faster than in anatase nanoparticles or mesoporous films. The kinetics exhibits three components, ranging from less than 1 ps to 100 ps, which are tentatively assigned to the geminate recombination within the core of the cluster and to the decay of the surface stabilized charge transfer exciton. A persistent long-lived component with τ > 300 ps may indicate the involvement of intraband dark states, i.e., triplet excitons (3)Ti17*.

The ability of a dendritic network to intercept electrons and extend the lifetime of a short-lived photoinduced charge separated (CS) state was investigated in a homologous family of methyl viologen (MV(2+)) dendrons spanning four generations, G0 through G3. The CS state in the parent pyrene-methylene-viologen G0 system with a single acceptor exhibits an extremely short lifetime of τ = 0.72 ps. The expansion of the viologen network introduces slower components to the recombination kinetics by allowing the injected electron to migrate further away from the donor. The long-lived fraction of the population increases monotonically in the order G3 > G2 > G1 > G0, while the respective recombination rates decrease. In the highest generation of the dendron ∼14% of the CS state population experiences a 10-fold or greater lifetime extension. Long range tunneling across multiple viologen units and sequential site-to-site hopping both contribute to the overall effect. The large excess energy deposited in the apical viologen upon charge separation and the presence of an extended network of low lying π-orbitals likely facilitate shuttling the electron further down the dendron.

Fast hole hopping in Ti17cat4, a 1 nm diameter molecular polyoxotitanate cluster bearing four catechol ligands (Ti 17 (μ 4 -O) 4 (μ 3 -O) 16 (μ 2 -O) 4 (cat) 4 (OPr i ) 16 ), was investigated by ultrafast spectroscopy and quantum dynamics simulations. The catechol moieties coupled to the TiO 2 core of the cluster give rise to a charge-transfer band, the excitation of which promotes an electron from the highest occupied molecular orbital of the ligand to the inorganic core, resulting in the formation of {cat +• ,Ti 3+ }, a vibrationally hot polaronic exciton. Dynamic depolarization measurements indicate that within less than 100 fs the Franck−Condon polaronic state formed at the interface evolves into a fully charge-separated state and the injected electron delocalizes over the quasi conduction band of the cluster. The positive charge (hole) resulting from the injection does not remain static either. The initial hole hopping between the catechol sites occurs with the rate of ∼5 × 10 11 s −1 or more and competes with the intramolecular vibrational relaxation. Upon thermalization, the hopping slows and continues at a rate of ∼5 × 10 10 s −1 . The experimentally observed rate of hole hopping agrees well with the results of quantum dynamics modeling of the wavepacket propagation.

No abstract