Efficient Light-Harvesting Systems with Tunable Emission through Controlled Precipitation in Confined Nanospace

Light harvesting is a key step in photosynthesis but creation of synthetic light-harvesting systems (LHSs) with high efficiencies has been challenging. When donor and acceptor dyes with aggregation-induced emission were trapped within the interior of cross-linked reverse vesicles, LHSs were obtained readily through spontaneous hydrophobically driven aggregation of the dyes in water. Aggregation in the confined nanospace was critical to the energy transfer and the light-harvesting efficiency. The efficiency of the excitation energy transfer (EET) reached 95% at a donor/acceptor ratio of 100:1 and the energy transfer was clearly visible even at a donor/acceptor ratio of 10000:1. Multicolor emission was achieved simply by tuning the donor/acceptor feed ratio in the preparation and the quantum yield of white light emission from the system was 0.38, the highest reported for organic materials in water to date.