Organic donor-acceptor (D-A) co-crystals have emerged as a promising class of semiconductors for photovoltaic applications.1,2 These co-crystals, which are packed through π-stacking interactions, can form charge transfer (CT) excitons within donor-acceptor pairs. These materials can exhibit unique and rare properties such as ambipolar charge transport, room-temperature ferroelectricity, and non-linear optical properties. Confinement of such D-A pairs within crystalline porous host materials such as metal-organic materials (MOFs)3 has rarely been studied. This approach can improve energy and charge transfer interactions by constraining their interaction and minimizing nonradiative energy transfer. Additionally, the formation of D-A pairs as dimers or a polymeric phase without altering the CT interactions can be controlled; band gap tunability is also possible. We hypothesize that confining D-A pairs within a porous network will also enhance the exciton lifetime compared to its dimer state in a crystal or in solution. In 2014, we reported an example of successful confinement of dihexyl-sexithiophene (acceptor) and [6,6]-phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester (donor) molecules within the pores of MOF-177.4 In the present work, we focused on different sets of D-A pairs to provide direct structural insights, such as the location within the pore, host-guest interactions, and guest-guest orientation. For this purpose, we dissolved naphthalene-TCNQ or pyrene-TCNQ in dichloromethane (DCM) at a 1:1 ratio and soaked MOF-177 crystals in the solution for 3 days. UV-Vis spectroscopy reveals the difference in the absorption bands of the isolated molecules vs. D-A pairs in MOF pores. To confirm the presence of guest species inside the MOF and to determine the donor vs. acceptor ratio we obtained nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectra. Interestingly, our preliminary results confirm that both naphthalene-TCNQ and pyrene-TCNQ pairs were accommodated inside the MOF but in different stoichiometric ratios. We also collected single crystal X-ray diffraction of the MOF crystals after being soaked after infiltration with D-A pairs. Structural refinement is underway to determine their position and interactions. Our approach provides new mechanistic insights and also produces new benchmark materials with long exciton lifetimes, which can be utilized to advance current photonic technologies. References Abou Taka, J. E. Reynolds Iii, N. C. Cole-Filipiak, M. Shivanna, C. J. Yu, P. L. Feng, et al. Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. 2023, 25, 27065.Sun, Y. Wang, F. Yang, X. Zhang and W. Hu. Adv. Mater. 2019, 31, 1902328.Shivanna, Q.-Y. Yang, A. Bajpai, E. Patyk-Kazmierczak and M. J. Zaworotko, Nat. Commun. 2018, 9, 3080.K. Leong, M. E. Foster, B. M. Wong, E. D. Spoerke, D. Van Gough, J. C. Deaton, et al. J. Mat. Chem. A 2014, 2, 3389.
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