Light-harvesting antennae based on photoactive silicon nanocrystals functionalized with porphyrin chromophores
Andrea Fermi,Mirko Locritani,Gabriele Di Carlo,Maddalena Pizzotti,Stefano Caramori,Yixuan Yu,Brian A. Korgel
Faraday Discussions Pub Date : 09/24/2015 00:00:00 , DOI:10.1039/C5FD00098J
Abstract

Silicon nanocrystals functionalized with tetraphenylporphyrin Zn(II) chromophores at the periphery perform as light harvesting antennae: excitation of the porphyrin units in the visible spectral region yields sensitized emission of the silicon nanocrystal core in the near infrared with a long lifetime (λmax = 905 nm, τ = 130 μs). This result demonstrates that this hybrid material has a potential application as a luminescent probe for bioimaging.