Synthesis and enhanced electron transfer of supramolecular nano-composite containing dendritic dye and surface-modified ZnO nano-rods

Abstract

Supramolecular nano-composites 15T5N/ZnOx-PNH containing enhanced compatibilities of dendritic dye 15T5N and surface-modified nano-rod ZnOx-PNH were developed in this study. The physical properties of supramolecular nano-composites have been well investigated by theoretical calculation and various measurements, including UV visible, PL, TEM, TCSPC, FT-IR, and CV. H-bonded nano-composite 15T5N/ZnO30-PNH possessed the saturated quenched fiuorscence as dendritic dye 15T5N complexed with surface-modified nano-rod ZnO30-PNH. In contrast to nano-rod mixture 15T5N/ZnO (without surface-modification), more widened visible absorption band to promote more efficient photo-induced charge separation phenomenon was observed in supramolecular nano-composite 15T5N/ZnO30-PNH. Compared with surfactant T-PNH, less efficient electron transfer of surfactant T-PC6 was observed in TCSPC and PL measurements because of the steric hindrance of long alkyl chains (-C6H13) attached to surfactant T-PC6. Therefore, the triple H-bonds between dendritic dye 15T5N and surface-modified nano-rod ZnO30-PNH are verified to result in the desirable effective electron transfer in supramolecular nano-composite 15T5N/ZnO30-PNH.