Electronic and optical response of Ru(II) complexes functionalized by methyl, carboxylate groups: joint theoretical and experimental study
- Los Alamos National Laboratory
New photovoltaic and photocatalysis applications have been recently proposed based on the hybrid Ru(II)-bipyridine-complex/semiconductor quantum dot systems. In order to attach the complex to the surface of a semiconductor, a linking bridge - a carboxyl group - is added to one or two of the 2,2{prime}-bipyridine ligands. Such changes in the ligand structure, indeed, affect electronic and optical properties and consequently, the charge transfer reactivity of Ru-systems. In this study, we apply both theoretical and experimental approaches to analyze the effects brought by functionalization of bipyridine ligands with the methyl, carboxyl, and carboxilate groups on the electronic structure and optical response of the Ru(II) bipyridine complex. First principle calculations based on density functional theory (DFT) and linear response time dependent density functional theory (TDDFT) are used to simulate the ground and excited-state structures of functionalized Ru-complexes in the gas phase, as well as in acetonitrile solution. In addition, an inelaborate Frenkel exciton model is used to explain the optical activity and splitting patterns of the low-energy excited states. All theoretical results nicely complement experimental absorption spectra of Ru-complexes and contribute to their interpretation. We found that the carboxyl group breaks the degeneracy of two low-energy optically bright excited states and red-shifts the absorption spectrum, while leaves ionization and affinity energies of complexes almost unchanged. Experimental studies show a high probability of deprotonation of the carbboxyl group in the Ru-complexes resulted in a slight blue shift and decrease of intensities of the low energy absorption peaks. Comparison of experimental and theoretical linear response spectra of deprotanated complexes demonstrate strong agreement when acetonitrile solvent is used in simulations. A polar solvent is found to play an important role in calculations of optical spectra: it stabilizes the energy of states localized on the carboxyl or carboxylate groups eliminating artificial charge transport states, which typically appear in TDDFT calculations. Thus, it is validated that the excited-state structure of the functionalized Ru-complexes, specifically in the case of the deprotonated functions, can be accurately modeled by TDDFT with the addition of a dielectric continuum in simulations.
- Research Organization:
- Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC52-06NA25396
- OSTI ID:
- 962271
- Report Number(s):
- LA-UR-08-06808; LA-UR-08-6808; JPCHAX; TRN: US200919%%35
- Journal Information:
- Journal of Physical Chemistry, Journal Name: Journal of Physical Chemistry; ISSN 0022-3654
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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