Sulfur-Bridged Chromophore Dimers: Oxidation-State Controlled Intramolecular Electronic Coupling

Peter Christensen1,  Chad Cruz2,  David Casanova3,  Christopher Bardeen2,  Michael Wolf1
1University of British Columbia, 2University of California Riverside, 3Kimika Fakultatea, Euskal Herria Unibersitatea (UPV/EHU)


Abstract

Energy, and electron transfer between molecules is of significant importance for charge transport in organic electronics. Singlet fission, a process which is currently being extensively investigated for the next generation of photovoltaic devices, makes use of down conversion of a high energy singlet electron/hole pair into two lower energy triplet electron/hole pairs on neighboring chromophores. Electroluminescent devices that harness both singlet, and triplet excitons through thermally activated delayed fluorescence make use of intramolecular charge transfer states that yield small singlet/triplet energy gaps. In each of these examples, the degree of electronic coupling between chromophore pairs is crucial for the observed electronic properties. In weakly coupled dimers the electronic interaction between the two "monomers" is low, and the system behaves like two independent molecules. However, when the coupling between monomers is increased, the electronic states of the two individual chromophores begin to mix, and new delocalized states may form. We have demonstrated that by bridging two conjugated chromophores, such as bithiophene or terthiophene, symmetrically about a sulfur atom, that the electronic coupling between the two chromophores can be chemically tuned by successively oxidizing the sulfur bridge. Resulting properties including enhanced photoluminescence and variable photo-reactivity have been observed as the oxidation state of the bridging sulfur is changed. The properties, and potential applications of these materials will be presented.