Remarkable Dependence of the Final Charge Separation Efficiency on the Donor–Acceptor Interaction in Photoinduced Electron Transfer

The unprecedented dependence of final charge separation efficiency as a function of donor–acceptor interaction in covalently-linked molecules with a rectilinear rigid oligo-p-xylene bridge has been observed. Optimization of the donor–acceptor electronic coupling remarkably inhibits the undesirable rapid decay of the singlet charge-separated state to the ground state, yielding the final long-lived, triplet charge-separated state with circa 100% efficiency. This finding is extremely useful for the rational design of artificial photosynthesis and organic photovoltaic cells toward efficient solar energy conversion.

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