Investigating The Role of Charge Separation in Triplet State Formation in Zinc Dipyrrin Photosensitizers
Faculty Sponsor’s Department
Chemistry
Additional Sponsors
Dr. Marina Roginskaya Dr. Reza Mohseni
Type
Oral Competitive
Project's Category
Inorganic Chemistry, Renewable Energy
Abstract or Artist's Statement
About 85% of the world’s energy is derived from non-renewable sources—coal, petroleum, and natural gas. Solar photocatalysis is one way to potentially generate cheap renewable fuels by harnessing energy from the sun and converting it into chemical energy. Photosensitizers serve as materials that absorb and store sunlight in the form of chemical energy. The efficiency of a photosensitizer depends on its capacity to form a prolonged triplet excited state. Zinc dipyrrin complexes have the potential to be efficient sensitizers for reductive photochemistry, but their ability to form long-lived triplet excited states still needs extensive research. The overall aim of this research is to probe the role charge separation plays in the formation of triplet state in metal complexes of dipyrrin photosensitizers. The specific objectives are to synthesize and characterize zinc and boron dipyrrin complexes, analyze their photophysical properties—such as steady-state spectroscopy, low-temperature emission spectroscopy—and quantify their triplet states using time-resolved transient absorption spectroscopy.
Investigating The Role of Charge Separation in Triplet State Formation in Zinc Dipyrrin Photosensitizers
About 85% of the world’s energy is derived from non-renewable sources—coal, petroleum, and natural gas. Solar photocatalysis is one way to potentially generate cheap renewable fuels by harnessing energy from the sun and converting it into chemical energy. Photosensitizers serve as materials that absorb and store sunlight in the form of chemical energy. The efficiency of a photosensitizer depends on its capacity to form a prolonged triplet excited state. Zinc dipyrrin complexes have the potential to be efficient sensitizers for reductive photochemistry, but their ability to form long-lived triplet excited states still needs extensive research. The overall aim of this research is to probe the role charge separation plays in the formation of triplet state in metal complexes of dipyrrin photosensitizers. The specific objectives are to synthesize and characterize zinc and boron dipyrrin complexes, analyze their photophysical properties—such as steady-state spectroscopy, low-temperature emission spectroscopy—and quantify their triplet states using time-resolved transient absorption spectroscopy.