Energy transfer articles within Nature Communications

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  • Article
    | Open Access

    Photosynthesis in biological systems occurs in a noisy environment that reduces the lifetime of coherences in the excitation energy transfer. Here the author demonstrate that long-lasting coherences are protected by quantum phase synchronization, realized in dimers by exciton-vibrational coupling where energy dissipation occurs predominantly in resonant anti-symmetric collective modes.

    • Ruidan Zhu
    • , Wenjun Li
    •  & Yuxiang Weng

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Obtaining high-temperature phosphorescence in organic materials can potentially lead to broader applications, but can be challenging to achieve. Here, the authors report the use of rigid molecules as both host and guest to give temperature resistance and therefore high-temperature phosphorescence.

    • Kaijun Chen
    • , Yongfeng Zhang
    •  & Xiang Ma

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Artificial ion channels have potential in a range of applications, but achieving performance comparable to biological channels has been challenging. Here, the authors report an artificial, light-driven chloride pump, inspired by halorhodopsin, with a helical porphyrin channel array.

    • Chao Li
    • , Yi Zhai
    •  & Lei Jiang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Singlet fission is recognized as an enabling process for next-generation solar cells. Here the authors design a molecular system where specific spin sub-levels can be initialized to produce a highly entangled state and demonstrate that the coherence between magnetic sub-levels of that state is preserved at higher temperatures than those encountered in conventional superconducting quantum hardware.

    • Ryan D. Dill
    • , Kori E. Smyser
    •  & Joel D. Eaves

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Exciton-polaritons are hybridized light-matter states that exhibit intriguing phenomena that are unobserved in purely excitonic states. Here, the authors elucidate the photophysical mechanism of polariton-assisted long-range energy transfer in carbon nanotubes using two-dimensional white-light spectroscopy and quantum calculations.

    • Minjung Son
    • , Zachary T. Armstrong
    •  & Martin T. Zanni

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Improving the efficiency of light-driven molecular rotary motors is a challenging task. Here, the authors combine theoretical modeling, synthesis and spectroscopy to prepare a prototype molecular motor capable of avoiding inefficient thermally activated motion; thus offering prospects to implement a 2-stroke photon-only molecular motor.

    • Michael Filatov(Gulak)
    • , Marco Paolino
    •  & Massimo Olivucci

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Here, the authors use quantitative ultrafast interferometric pump-probe microscopy to track photoexcitations with sub-10 nm spatial precision in three dimensions and 15 fs temporal resolution to study the spatiotemporal dynamics of singlet exciton fission in polycrystalline pentacene films.

    • Arjun Ashoka
    • , Nicolas Gauriot
    •  & Akshay Rao

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Despite a promising water harvesting approach solar steam generation low efficiency remains a challenging obstacle. Here, authors present a macro- and microscopically reconfigurable and magnetically responsive assembly towards a dynamic evaporation system with improved performance and salt resistance.

    • Yajie Hu
    • , Hongyun Ma
    •  & Liangti Qu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Hybrid light-matter states formed in the strong light-matter coupling regime can alter the molecular ground-state reactivity. Here, Li et al. computationally demonstrate that pumping a collection of solvent molecules forming hybrid vibrational light-matter states in an optical cavity can excite solute molecules to very high excited states.

    • Tao E. Li
    • , Abraham Nitzan
    •  & Joseph E. Subotnik

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Sequential energy transfer is ubiquitous in natural light harvesting systems, but most artificial mimics have unsatisfactory energy transfer efficiency. Here, authors synthesize a sequential energy transfer system with overall efficiency of 87.4% via supramolecular copolymerization mimicking the aggregation mode of bacteriochlorophyll pigments in green photosynthetic bacteria.

    • Yifei Han
    • , Xiaolong Zhang
    •  & Feng Wang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Exciton-polaritons are typically formed in organic systems when the molecules are confined between metallic or dielectric mirrors. Here, the authors reveal that interactions between excitons and moderately confined photonic states within the bare organic film can also lead to polariton formation, making them the primary photoexcitation.

    • Raj Pandya
    • , Richard Y. S. Chen
    •  & Akshay Rao

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Photon upconversion in lanthanide-doped nanoparticles enables important technological developments. Here the authors demonstrate a mechanism leading to enhanced upconversion emission in core-shell nanoparticles, and long-distance energy transfer between nanoparticles, through triplet state population of an organic surface ligand.

    • Sanyang Han
    • , Zhigao Yi
    •  & Xiaogang Liu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Vibrational energy transfer (VET) is essential for protein function as it is responsible for efficient energy dissipation in reaction sites and is linked to pathways of allosteric communication. Here authors equipped a tryptophan zipper with a VET injector and a VET sensor for femtosecond pump probe experiments to map the VET.

    • Erhan Deniz
    • , Luis Valiño-Borau
    •  & Jens Bredenbeck

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The primary energy conversion step in photosynthesis, charge separation, takes place in the reaction center. Here the authors investigate the heliobacterial reaction center using multispectral two-dimensional electronic spectroscopy, identifying the primary electron acceptor and revealing the charge separation mechanism.

    • Yin Song
    • , Riley Sechrist
    •  & Jennifer P. Ogilvie

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Here, the authors experimentally demonstrate chiral transfer over large distances up to 100 nm. They realise the coupling with an achiral nanosphere situated between a pair of distant gold nanorods arranged in a chiral fashion using DNA origami, and observe enhanced circular dichroism signals.

    • Kevin Martens
    • , Felix Binkowski
    •  & Tim Liedl

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Exploiting delocalized organic polaritons for enhanced exciton harvesting has been advantageous for organic optoelectronic with planar heterojunctions. Here, the authors report polariton-assisted excitation energy channeling in organic heterojunctions coupled to the same cavity mode.

    • Mao Wang
    • , Manuel Hertzog
    •  & Karl Börjesson

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Spin-triplet energy transfer in molecular systems underlies important applications for chemistry and devices. Here, the authors investigate the triplet energy transfer in CdSe quantum dots with varying ZnS shell thicknesses to surface-anchored anthracene molecules and identify a stepwise mechanism mediated by endothermic charge-transfer states.

    • Runchen Lai
    • , Yangyi Liu
    •  & Kaifeng Wu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Vibrational energy transfer in water involves intermolecular coupling of O-H stretching modes, but much less is known about the role of the bending modes. Here the authors, combining static and femtosecond infrared, Raman, and hyper-Raman spectroscopy and ab initio molecular dynamics simulations, provide insight into the energy dynamics of the bend vibrations.

    • Chun-Chieh Yu
    • , Kuo-Yang Chiang
    •  & Yuki Nagata

  • Perspective
    | Open Access

    Photon-induced charge separation phenomena are at the heart of light-harvesting applications but challenging to be described by quantum mechanical models. Here the authors illustrate the potential of machine-learning approaches towards understanding the fundamental processes governing electronic excitations.

    • Florian Häse
    • , Loïc M. Roch
    •  & Alán Aspuru-Guzik

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Photoreceptor UVR8 in plants senses environmental UV levels through 26 structural tryptophan residues, but the role of 18 of them was unknown. The authors show, by experiments and computations, how these form a light-harvesting network that funnels the excitation to the pyramid centers enhancing the light-perception efficiency.

    • Xiankun Li
    • , Haisheng Ren
    •  & Dongping Zhong

  • Article
    | Open Access

    There are multiple ways by which energy and charge transfer occur in weakly bound systems. Here the authors reveal a heavy ion N+ transfer in a doubly charged Van der Waals cluster produced in collisions of the highly charged Ne8+ ion with N2Ar, leading to fragmentation of N+ and NAr+ via Coulomb explosion.

    • XiaoLong Zhu
    • , XiaoQing Hu
    •  & X. Ma

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Reactions induced by low-energy electrons in hydrated systems are central to radiation therapy, but a full understanding of their mechanism is lacking. Here the authors investigate the electron-impact induced ionization and subsequent dissociation of tetrahydrofuran, model for biochemically relevant systems, in a micro-solvated environment.

    • Enliang Wang
    • , Xueguang Ren
    •  & Alexander Dorn

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Resolving the kinetics of energy dissipation during photosynthesis is challenging due to complex photophysics and the coexistence of multiple antenna proteins. Here Son et al. overcome this by applying ultrabroadband 2D spectroscopy to LHCII reconstituted in lipid nanodiscs, revealing mechanisms of dissipation enhanced by the membrane.

    • Minjung Son
    • , Alberta Pinnola
    •  & Gabriela S. Schlau-Cohen

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Understanding vibrational energy transfer in macromolecules has been challenging to both theory and experiment. Here the authors use non-equilibrium molecular dynamics to reveal the relationship between heat transport in a model peptide, emergent nonlinearity, and the underlying free energy landscape.

    • Justin E. Elenewski
    • , Kirill A. Velizhanin
    •  & Michael Zwolak

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Light-harvesting antennas and efficient energy transfer enable photosynthesis in low light conditions in natural systems. Here the authors resolve exciton properties and the role of structural hierarchy in a model light-harvesting complex by excited-state 2D spectroscopy on a microfluidic platform.

    • Björn Kriete
    • , Julian Lüttig
    •  & Maxim S. Pshenichnikov

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Photoswitchable nanoparticles can be used for selective imaging in biological systems but usually have only one color. Here the authors develop a two-color fluorescent emissive system that allows full on-off switching of one component color of the system while the other color is unaffected, which has implications for super-resolution imaging.

    • Dojin Kim
    • , Keunsoo Jeong
    •  & Soo Young Park

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Radiosensitisers are believed to interfere with cancer cells by dissociating upon interaction with electrons. Here the authors observe instead that the dominant path for nitroimidazolic radiosensitisers involves formation of a non-dissociated radical anion, prerequisite for their accumulation in tumour cells.

    • Rebecca Meißner
    • , Jaroslav Kočišek
    •  & Stephan Denifl

  • Article
    | Open Access

    2D electronic spectroscopy enables a spatially-averaged view of the electronic structure of a heterogeneous system. Here, the authors extend it to sub-micron resolution and ~106 times better sensitivity, to resolve spatially varying excitonic structure in a heterogeneous mixture of photosynthetic cells.

    • Vivek Tiwari
    • , Yassel Acosta Matutes
    •  & Jennifer P. Ogilvie

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Controlling ferroelectric polarization is conventionally achieved by applying electric fields, mechanical force or similar. Here reversible switching of the bulk polarization of a BiFeO3 thin film is demonstrated by pattering aqueous solution on to the surface enabling large-scale switching.

    • Yu Tian
    • , Lanying Wei
    •  & Jinxing Zhang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Optimizing luminescence from quantum dots benefits various optoelectronic and photovoltaic applications. Here the authors drive high-efficiency, tunable upconversion luminescence in perovskite quantum dots by energy transfer from lanthanide-doped nanoparticles excited by near-infrared light, to produce full-color emission with low driving power.

    • Wei Zheng
    • , Ping Huang
    •  & Xueyuan Chen

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Interatomic Coulombic Decay is a non-radiative relaxation process between excited systems. Here the authors report a theoretical framework based on macroscopic quantum electrodynamics that shows the role of retardation and an environment in the enhancement or suppression of the ICD rate.

    • Joshua Leo Hemmerich
    • , Robert Bennett
    •  & Stefan Yoshi Buhmann

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Some photo-physical processes in multichromophore systems might get triggered only if two excitations are present. Here, the authors introduce exciton–exciton-interaction 2D spectroscopy, which is a non-linear optical method that can selectively track the time evolution of such effects.

    • Jakub Dostál
    • , Franziska Fennel
    •  & Tobias Brixner

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Hot hole transfer has applications in plasmonics, photocatalysis, and light harvesting, but is often limited by low quantum yields and short-lived charge separation times. Here, Lian et al. overcome these limitations in heterostructured nanocrystals and proposed a new hot hole transfer mechanism.

    • Zichao Lian
    • , Masanori Sakamoto
    •  & Toshiharu Teranishi

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Molecular solar thermal systems are promising for storing solar energy but achieving high energy storage densities and absorption characteristics matching the solar spectrum is challenging. Here the authors present a design strategy for electronically coupled photoswitches which allow for high energy density storage for solar energy storage applications.

    • Mads Mansø
    • , Anne Ugleholdt Petersen
    •  & Kasper Moth-Poulsen

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Semiconductor nanocrystals have potential applications in optoelectronic devices including single-photon emission sources. Here, Lv et al. demonstrate that nanocrystals within small clusters can electronically couple, thereby increasing their optical cross-section while the optical emission remains antibunched.

    • Bihu Lv
    • , Huichao Zhang
    •  & Min Xiao

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Liquid water molecules are in constant vibrational motion, but probing how their local behaviour influences collective dynamics remains a challenge. Here, the authors present terahertz-infrared spectroscopy to elucidate coupling of the O-H stretch vibration to collective, delocalized intermolecular modes.

    • Maksim Grechko
    • , Taisuke Hasegawa
    •  & Mischa Bonn

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Photon upconversion methods demonstrated thus far involve challenging requirements. Here Weingartenet al. demonstrate a mechanism called cooperative energy pooling, in which multiple photoexcited sensitizers resonantly and simultaneously transfer their energies to a higher-energy state on a single acceptor.

    • Daniel H. Weingarten
    • , Michael D. LaCount
    •  & Sean E. Shaheen

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Rydberg atoms are promising platform for quantum simulations, due to their strong and controllable dipole–dipole interactions. Here, the authors predict few-body processes in Rydberg atoms which resemble fluorescence resonance energy transfer in biological setting, and observe them in cold caesium atoms.

    • R. Faoro
    • , B. Pelle
    •  & P. Pillet

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Silicon carbide possesses myriad properties which render it an ideal material for implementation in harsh radiation environments. Here, the authors show that damaged SiC can be repaired through ionization-induced healing, which has broader implications for the design of future radiation-tolerant materials.

    • Yanwen Zhang
    • , Ritesh Sachan
    •  & William J. Weber

  • Article
    | Open Access

    A linear energy–momentum relation of graphene results in a high direct-current electron mobility, but this is not necessarily true at terahertz frequencies. Here, the authors show that its ultrafast conductivity is dependent on a highly nonlinear interplay between heating and cooling of the electron gas.

    • Zoltán Mics
    • , Klaas-Jan Tielrooij
    •  & Dmitry Turchinovich

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