Single Lévy states-disorder induced energy funnels in molecular aggregates

Aboma Merdasa; Ángel  J Jiménez; Rafael Camacho; Matthias Meyer; Frank Würthner; Ivan G Scheblykin

doi:10.1021/nl5021188

Single Lévy states-disorder induced energy funnels in molecular aggregates

Nano Lett. 2014 Dec 10;14(12):6774-81. doi: 10.1021/nl5021188. Epub 2014 Nov 7.

Authors

Aboma Merdasa¹, Ángel J Jiménez, Rafael Camacho, Matthias Meyer, Frank Würthner, Ivan G Scheblykin

Affiliation

¹ Chemical Physics, Lund University , P.O. Box 124, 22100 Lund, Sweden.

PMID: 25349900
DOI: 10.1021/nl5021188

Abstract

Using fluorescence super-resolution microscopy we studied simultaneous spectral, spatial localization, and blinking behavior of individual 1D J-aggregates. Excitons migrating 100 nm are funneled to a trap appearing as an additional red-shifted blinking fluorescence band. We propose that the trap is a Frenkel exciton state formed much below the main exciton band edge due to an environmentally induced heavy-tailed Lévy disorder. This points to disorder engineering as a new avenue in controlling light-harvesting in molecular ensembles.

Keywords: Frenkel excitons; J-aggregates; Lévy distribution; energy funneling; single molecule spectroscopy; super-resolution microscopy.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't