"The other benefit is that by translating the exciton away from the nanoparticle surface, instead of involving the nanoparticle itself in the desired chemical reactions, you won't degrade the nanoparticle," says Castellano. "It can keep absorbing light and transferring the energy into the bulk solution."
Page 2 of 2Molecular-like Photochemistry from Semiconductor Nanocrystals
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Castellano's team used cadmium selenide (CdSe) nanocrystals capped with oleic acid, prepared by Prof. Mikhail Zamkov and his graduate student Natalia Razgoniaeva at Bowling Green State University. Some of the oleic acid is then replaced by the molecular triplet acceptor 9-anthacenecarboxylic acid (ACA). When the CdSe nanocrystal bearing ACA is struck with a green laser pulse, the exciton produced in the CdSe is transferred to the ACA, forming a molecular triplet exciton with a millisecond lifetime. This represents a lifetime extension of six orders of magnitude, enabling subsequent chemical reactivity.