One-Dimensional Antenna Systems by Crystallization Inclusion of Dyes (One-Pot Synthesis) within Zeolitic MgAPO-36 Nanochannels

The nanopores of magnesium aluminophosphate MgAPO-36 (ATS structure) favor the formation of J-type aggregates in dyes with a general molecular skeleton of three fused aromatic rings. The particular distribution of these J-aggregate species and monomers, in a practically collinear disposition along the 1D-channels, allows an efficient transfer of electronic energy by dipole–dipole interaction. In order to achieve a material susceptible to be used as an artificial photonic antenna, covering a broader range of the UV–vis light spectrum and available by one-pot synthesis, the fluorescing dye acridine (AC) is occluded for the first time within MgAPO-36, both alone and with different ratios of the fluorescing dye Pyronine Y (PY). The one-dimensional energy-transfer process between the different chromophores and between the monomers and their red-shifted J-aggregates is controlled by the total concentration of dyes and their relative AC:PY ratio in the matrix. In the optimized AC:PY concentrations, the wavelength range antenna action is extended from near-UV to about 700 nm, transporting the light energy through the whole visible spectrum (blue to green to red) and spatially, from end to the end of the crystals.