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Amplified Photochemistry with Slow Photons

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 February 2011

Jennifer I. L. Chen
Affiliation:
jchen@chem.utoronto.ca, University of Toronto, Chemistry, 80 St. George Street, Toronto, M5S3H6, Canada
Georg von Freymann
Affiliation:
Georg.Freymann@physik.uni-karlsruhe.de, Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe in der Helmholtz-Gemeinschaft, Institut für Nanotechnologie, Karlsruhe, 76021, Germany
Sung Yeun Choi
Affiliation:
schoi@chem.utoronto.ca, University of Toronto, Chemistry, 80 St. George Street, Toronto, M5S 3H6, Canada
Vladimir Kitaev
Affiliation:
vkitaev@wlu.ca, Wilfrid Laurier University, Chemistry, Waterloo, N2L 3C5, Canada
Geoffrey A. Ozin
Affiliation:
gozin@chem.utoronto.ca, University of Toronto, Chemistry, 80 St. George Street, Toronto, M5S 3H6, Canada
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Abstract

We demonstrate monochromatic and white light optical amplification of the photo-oxidation of adsorbed methylene blue using an inverse colloidal photonic crystal fashioned from anatase nanocrystals, denoted i-nc-TiO2-o. Enhanced photo-activity that drives the oxidation of the dye is attributed to slow photons in i-nc-TiO2-o. When the slow photon wavelength is optimized with respect to the electronic excitation energy of i-nc-TiO2-o, the photo-oxidation rate of the dye is doubled compared to conventional nc-TiO2. By increasing the probability of absorbing photons in i-nc-TiO2-o relative to nc-TiO2, a larger population of electron-hole pairs is generated enabling more efficient photo-oxidation. Slow photons in photonic crystals portend a myriad of opportunities for amplified photo-processes in chemistry and biology.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2007

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References

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