9402935 Meyer This award, made in the Advanced Materials and Processing Program deals with the design, synthesis and characterization of molecular photonic materials. These materials will be derived from monolithic gels in which steady-state and time dependent optical properties can be systematically varied. A key goal will be to efficiently produce long-lived photoinduced charge separation within the solid state. Light absorbing species will be metal to ligand charge transfer complexes of ruthenium and osmium imbedded into sol-gel matrices. Energy and electron acceptors will be substituted anthracenes and methyl viologens, tethered to gel matrices. By layering gels of donors and acceptors it will be possible to segregate the steps of light absorption, energy transfer, and electron transfer, mimicking the primary events in photosynthesis. This research will bridge the gap between known solution chemistry and emerging technology of solid state materials based on sol-gel processing. The technology will find application in practical molecular level devices such as chemical sensors, photovoltaic cells, and linear and nonlinear optical devices.
