Photochemical upconversion is suppressed by high concentrations of molecular sensitizers

Phys Chem Chem Phys. 2018 Jul 25;20(29):19500-19506. doi: 10.1039/c8cp02650e.

Abstract

Photochemical upconversion uses sensitized triplet-triplet annihilation in bimolecular compositions to convert lower energy photons to higher energy photons. For high efficiency under low illumination, usually a high sensitizer concentration is desirable. However, here we show that the upconversion sensitizer can reduce the emitter triplet lifetime by dynamic quenching, with rate constants on the order 106 M-1 s-1, leading to diminishing returns beyond a certain concentration. These results serve as a warning to designers of photochemical upconvertors that higher concentrations of sensitizers are not necessarily beneficial to upconversion performance.