Application potential in solar technology, medical diagnostics and quantum computing
An international team of researchers has managed to control the energy flow in a molecule using the pH. The study, led by the Friedrich Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg (FAU), could contribute, for example, to the development of new sensors for medical diagnostics. The findings are also of interest for the construction of more efficient solar cells and for quantum computing. The results are in the magazine Nature communications appeared*. There the work was particularly mentioned as a research highlight. At the center of the study is a process called „single split “. In future generations of solar cells, for example, it should ensure better use of light and thus higher efficiencies. So far, a large part of the radiated energy has evaporated and is released as heat. This is due to the way solar cells work – in principle similar to a car horn. Whether you press sensitively onto the center of the steering wheel or hit your fist hard: the result is the same, namely a single Hupton. This is the same in conventional solar cells: every photon, no matter how energetic, excites a single electron, which is then available as a charge carrier. But there are light particles that actually have enough power for two electrons. „This is where the singlet split comes into play “, explains Prof. Dr. Dirk Guldi from the Chair of Physical Chemistry at FAU: „This process ensures that the energy of the photon is divided, so to speak, so that two electrons can be excited. Together with a team from the University of Alberta in Canada, we have now managed to make this process switchable. “ A punch on the steering wheel produces two huptones For this, the researchers used a molecule from the group of the so-called tetra scene. The connection is brought into the so-called singlet excitation state by high-energy photons. This then splits into two low-energy triplet states on – in a short time, so a strong blow to the steering wheel now produces two heptones. „We have chemically modified our molecule so that it binds protons in an acidic environment “, explains Guldi. „This changes its properties so that the singlet split can no longer take place. “ If there is no splitting, the single state disintegrates within a short time with the release of light. The connection therefore lights up in an acidic environment. In contrast, it remains dark in an alkaline environment. „This mechanism could possibly be used for new sensors for medical diagnostics “, explains Guldi. In addition, success allows new insights into the way in which the singlet cleavage takes place in tetracenes. With this knowledge, the process may be further optimized in the future, the scientist hopes. „Until new, significantly more efficient solar cells can be designed, there is still a lot of work ahead of us “, he says. „But our results could be another important step in this way. “ They could also open up new perspectives for the development of quantum computers that can solve certain problems particularly quickly. FAU News
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