Solar energy storage at an atomically defined organic-oxide hybrid interface

Schuschke C, Hohner C, Jevric M, Petersen AU, Wang Z, Schwarz M, Kettner M, Waidhas F, Fromm L, Sumby CJ, Görling A, Brummel O, Moth-Poulsen K, Libuda J (2019)

Publication Type: Journal article

Publication year: 2019

Journal

Nature Communications Nature Publishing Group: Nature Communications

Book Volume: 10

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-10263-4

Abstract

Molecular photoswitches provide an extremely simple solution for solar energy conversion and storage. To convert stored energy to electricity, however, the photoswitch has to be coupled to a semiconducting electrode. In this work, we report on the assembly of an operational solar-energy-storing organic-oxide hybrid interface, which consists of a tailor-made molecular photoswitch and an atomically-defined semiconducting oxide film. The synthesized norbornadiene derivative 2-cyano-3-(4-carboxyphenyl)norbornadiene (CNBD) was anchored to a well-ordered Co3O4(111) surface by physical vapor deposition in ultrahigh vacuum. Using a photochemical infrared reflection absorption spectroscopy experiment, we demonstrate that the anchored CNBD monolayer remains operational, i.e., can be photo-converted to its energy-rich counterpart 2-cyano-3-(4-carboxyphenyl)quadricyclane (CQC). We show that the activation barrier for energy release remains unaffected by the anchoring reaction and the anchored photoswitch can be charged and discharged with high reversibility. Our atomically-defined solar-energy-storing model interface enables detailed studies of energy conversion processes at organic/oxide hybrid interfaces.

Authors with CRIS profile

Christian Schuschke Lehrstuhl für Physikalische Chemie II Chantal Hohner Lehrstuhl für Physikalische Chemie II Matthias Schwarz Lehrstuhl für Physikalische Chemie II Miroslav Kettner Lehrstuhl für Katalytische Grenzflächenforschung Fabian Waidhas Lehrstuhl für Physikalische Chemie II Lukas Fromm Lehrstuhl für Theoretische Chemie Andreas Görling Lehrstuhl für Theoretische Chemie Olaf Brummel Lehrstuhl für Physikalische Chemie II Jörg Libuda Professur für Physikalische Chemie

Involved external institutions

University of Adelaide AU Australia (AU) Chalmers University of Technology / Chalmers tekniska högskola SE Sweden (SE)

How to cite

APA:

Schuschke, C., Hohner, C., Jevric, M., Petersen, A.U., Wang, Z., Schwarz, M.,... Libuda, J. (2019). Solar energy storage at an atomically defined organic-oxide hybrid interface. Nature Communications, 10. https://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-10263-4

MLA:

Schuschke, Christian, et al. "Solar energy storage at an atomically defined organic-oxide hybrid interface." Nature Communications 10 (2019).

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