Probing Driving Force and Electron Accepting State Density Dependent Interfacial Electron Transfer Dynamics: Suppressed Fluorescence Blinking of Single Molecules on Indium Tin Oxide Semiconductor.

Photoinduced, interfacial electron transfer (ET) dynamics between m-ZnTCPP and Sn-doped In2O3 (ITO) film has been studied using single-molecule photon-stamping spectroscopy. The observed ET dynamics of single m-ZnTCPP adsorbed on ITO was compared with that of m-ZnTCPP adsorbed on TiO2 NPs with and without applied electric potential. Compared to m-ZnTCPP on the TiO2 NP surface, m-ZnTCPP on the ITO surface shows a reduced lifetime as well as suppressed blinking and a quasi-continuous distribution of fluorescence intensities, presumably due to higher electron density in ITO. The higher electron density leads to the occupancy of CB acceptor states/trap states, which supports a higher backward electron transfer (BET) rate that results in a quasi-continuous distribution of fluorescence intensities. The dependence of BET rate on electron density and charge trapping is consistent with our previous observations of quasi-continuous distribution of fluorescence intensities of m-ZnTCPP on TiO2 NPs with applied negative potential across the dye-TiO2 interface. The quasi-continuous distribution of fluorescence intensities in both cases of m-ZnTCPP on the ITO surface and m-ZnTCPP on TiO2 NPs with applied negative potential indicates that the electron density in the semiconductor plays a dominant role in dictating the changes in rates of charge transfer, rather than the relative energetics between electrons in the semiconductor and the oxidized sensitizer.