Dyes with Switchable Intersystem Crossing for Photonics

DyeSICPhoto focuses on developing innovative functional dyes with programmable excited state behavior to enhance their potential in photonics. This project is optimizing the spin-orbit charge transfer intersystem crossing (SOCT-ISC) process in electron donor-acceptor molecules. In these systems, fluorescence and triplet state quantum yields can be precisely controlled by the charge transfer process.

The designed dyes will function either as bright fluorophores or photosensitizers, transferring energy to other molecules based on environmental parameters, external stimuli, or activating species.

This research not only advances the fundamental understanding of the photophysics of organic molecules but also creates advanced molecular systems and materials with high value for biophotonics and energy conversion.

- In biophotonics, these systems are used as smart sensitizers for photomedical treatments and as imaging probes for reactive oxygen species in living cells.

- Alternatively, new dyes serve as components in multichromophoric assemblies, efficiently harvesting and converting light energy to enhance solar cell efficiency through triplet-triplet annihilation upconversion.