English (United Kingdom)

https://curated-unify.zendy.io/wp-json/zendy-region/v1/featured_content/oa?rat=en

https://curated-unify.zendy.io/wp-json/zendy-region/v1/highlighted_journal/

Global: Zendy Tools annual

Presents the keyphrase highlighting as premium feature

Keyphrase Highlighting

Presents the summarisation as premium feature

Summarisation

Insights

Presents the pdf analysis as premium feature

PDF Analysis

Presents the zaia usage as premium feature

ZAIA

Global: Zendy Tools monthly

Global: Zendy Plus monthly

Presents the access of premium content as premium feature

Premium Content

Global: Zendy Plus annual

Global: Zendy Free Plan

In natural and artificial light-harvesting complexes (LHC) the resonantenergy transfer (RET) between chromophores enables an efficient and directionaltransport of solar energy between collection and reaction centers. The detailedmechanisms involved in this energy funneling are intensely debated, essentiallybecause they rely on a succession of individual RET steps that can hardly beaddressed separately. Here, we developed a scanning tunnellingmicroscopy-induced luminescence (STML) approach allowing visualizing,addressing and manipulating energy funneling within multi-chromophoricstructures with sub-molecular precision. We first rationalize the efficiency ofthe RET process at the level of chromophore dimers. We then use highly resolvedfluorescence microscopy (HRFM) maps to follow energy transfer paths along anartificial trimer of descending excitonic energies which reveals a cascaded RETfrom high- to low-energy gap molecules. Mimicking strategies developed byphotosynthetic systems, this experiment demonstrates that intermediate gapmolecules can be used as efficient ancillary units to convey energy betweendistant donor and acceptor chromophores. Eventually, we demonstrate that theRET between donors and acceptors is enhanced by the insertion of passivemolecules acting as non-covalent RET bridges. This mechanism, that occurs inexperiments performed in inhomogeneous media and which plays a decisive role infastening RET in photosynthetic systems, is reported at the level of individualchromophores with atomic-scale resolution. As it relies on organic chromophoresas elementary components, our approach constitutes a powerful model to addressfundamental physical processes at play in natural LHC.

Energy funnelling within multichromophore architectures monitored with subnanometre resolution