A DNA-Fullerene Conjugate as a Template for Supramolecular Chromophore Assemblies: Towards DNA-Based Solar Cells

A fullerene was covalently attached to a (dA)20 template that serves as structural scaffold to self‐assemble an ordered and mixed array of ethynyl‐pyrene‐ and ethynyl‐Nile‐red‐nucleoside conjugates. Fluorescence spectroscopy revealed evidence for energy transfer between the two different chromophore...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Angewandte Chemie International Edition 2016-01, Vol.55 (5), p.1904-1908
Main Authors: Ensslen, Philipp, Gärtner, Stefan, Glaser, Konstantin, Colsmann, Alexander, Wagenknecht, Hans-Achim
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Assemblies
Chromophores
Covalence
Current carriers
Deoxyribonucleic acid
DNA
Electron transfer
Energy transfer
exciton
Fluorescence
Fluorescence spectroscopy
Fullerenes
Optoelectronic devices
Photovoltaic cells
photovoltaics
Pyrene
Quenching
Solar cells
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Summary:A fullerene was covalently attached to a (dA)20 template that serves as structural scaffold to self‐assemble an ordered and mixed array of ethynyl‐pyrene‐ and ethynyl‐Nile‐red‐nucleoside conjugates. Fluorescence spectroscopy revealed evidence for energy transfer between the two different chromophores. Moreover, fluorescence quenching is significantly enhanced by the attached fullerene in mixed assemblies of different chromophore ratios. This indicates exciton dissociation by electron transfer from the photo‐generated exciton on the chromophore stack to the fullerene. The fullerene–DNA‐conjugate was integrated as a photo‐active layer in solar cells that showed charge‐carrier generation in the spectral regime of all three components of the conjugate. This work clearly demonstrates that DNA is suitable as structural element for chromophore assemblies in future organic optoelectronic devices, such as solar cells. DNA in solar cells: A chromophore assembly of ethynyl Nile red and ethynyl pyrene, templated and ordered by a single‐stranded DNA–fullerene conjugates, shows light‐harvesting properties and photovoltaic activity. This work demonstrates that DNA is suitable as a structural element for chromophore assemblies in future organic optoelectronic devices, such as solar cells.
ISSN:1433-7851
1521-3773
DOI:10.1002/anie.201509332