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Abstract
Conventional photocells suffer a fundamental efficiency threshold imposed by the principle of detailed balance, reflecting the fact that good absorbers must necessarily also be fast emitters. This limitation can be overcome by "parking" the energy of an absorbed photon in a dark state which neither absorbs nor emits light. Here we argue that suitable dark states occur naturally as a consequence of the dipole-dipole interaction between two proximal optical dipoles for a wide range of realistic molecular dimers. We develop an intuitive model of a photocell comprising two light-absorbing molecules coupled to an idealized reaction centre, showing asymmetric dimers are capable of providing a significant enhancement of light-to-current conversion under ambient conditions. We conclude by describing a road map for identifying suitable molecular dimers for demonstrating this effect by screening a very large set of possible candidate molecules.
Original language | English |
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Article number | 203603 |
Pages (from-to) | 1-6 |
Number of pages | 6 |
Journal | Physical Review Letters |
Volume | 117 |
Issue number | 20 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 10 Nov 2016 |
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Dive into the research topics of 'Photocell optimization using dark state protection'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.Projects
- 1 Finished
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Quantum Coherence: Heriot-Watt - Leverhulme Transfer with PhD Studentships
Lovett, B. W. (PI)
1/10/13 → 30/09/15
Project: Standard
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Data underpinning Photocell Optimisation Using Dark State Protection
Lovett, B. W. (Creator), Gauger, E. (Creator), Gomez-Bombarelli, R. (Creator) & Fruchtman, A. (Creator), University of St Andrews, 11 Nov 2016
DOI: 10.17630/e901ecd8-e8d0-4062-a5b1-2ce2bfa5c09c
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