title: Probing single-molecule interfacial geminate electron-cation recombination dynamics.
abstract: Interfacial electron-cation recombination in zinc-tetra (4-carboxyphenyl) porphyrin (ZnTCPP)/TiO(2) nanoparticle system has been probed at the single-molecule level by recording and analyzing photon-to-photon pair times of the ZnTCPP fluorescence. We have developed a novel approach to reveal the hidden single-molecule interfacial electron-cation recombination dynamics by analyzing the autocorrelation function and a proposed convoluted single-molecule interfacial electron-cation recombination model. Our results suggest that the fluctuations of the interfacial electron transfer (ET) reactivity modulate the ET cycles as well as the interfacial electron-cation recombination dynamics. On the basis of this model, the single-molecule electron-cation recombination time of ZnTCPP/TiO(2) system is deduced to be at time scale of 10(-5) s. The autocorrelation of photon-to-photon pair times as well as the convoluted ET model has been further demonstrated by simulation and interpreted in terms of the interfacial ET reactivity fluctuation and blinking. Our approach not only can effectively probe the single-molecule interfacial electron-cation dynamics but also can be applied to other single-molecule ground-state regeneration dynamics occurring at interfaces and within condensed phases.
authors.affiliation: Bowling Green State University, Center for Photochemical Sciences, Department of Chemistry, Bowling Green, Ohio 43403, USA.
authors.forename: Yuanmin
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Xuefei
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: H Peter
authors.initials: HP
authors.lastname: Lu
mesh_terms: D002412:Cations / Q000737:chemistry*; D003198:Computer Simulation; D004579:Electron Transport; D004583:Electrons; D005453:Fluorescence; D008958:Models, Molecular; D053758:Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry*; D010777:Photochemistry; D011166:Porphyrins / Q000737:chemistry*; D014025:Titanium / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D002412:Cations; D011166:Porphyrins; C009495:titanium dioxide; D014025:Titanium