Excitation energy transfer from dye molecules to doped graphene

Abstract

Recently, we have reported theoretical studies (J. Chem. Phys. 129, 054703, 2008 and J. Chem. Phys. 130, 086101, 2009) on the rate of energy transfer from an electronically excited molecule to graphene. It was found that graphene is a very efficient quencher of the electronically excited states and that the rate $\propto $ $(distance)^{-4}$. The process was found to be effective up to $30\;nm$ which is well beyond the traditional FRET limit. In this report, we study the transfer of an amount of energy $\hbar \Omega$ from a dye molecule to doped graphene. We find a crossover of the distance dependence of the rate from $(distance)^{-4}$ to exponential as the Fermi level is increasingly shifted into the conduction band, with the crossover occurring at a shift of the Fermi level by an amount $\hbar \Omega/2$.