Grant: Research Tools and Instruments

NSERC RTI funds are requested for the acquisition of an Absolute Photoluminescence Quantum Yield Spectrometer that is urgently required for the applicant team to provide a cutting-edge training environment and to maintain competitiveness and ultimately flourish on the international stage. The Hamamatsu C11347-12 Spectrometer has been specifically chosen as a cost-effective solution that overcomes our current instrument limitations that also avoids duplication of existing infrastructure. It will accommodate liquid, solid, and thin-film samples that photoluminesce from 400-1000 nm and will facilitate these measurements at low-temperature. This configuration will maximize the range of materials that can be characterized, including both fluorescent and phosphorescent specimens. It also offers significant advantages for the training of HQP as conventional instrumentation used for the determination of absolute photoluminescence quantum yields require specialized expertise, and as a result, are generally not accessible to non-experts. Conversely, the requested infrastructure does not require such expertise and is conceptually and practically accessible. It will facilitate the hands-on, concept-based training of a core group of 67 HQP across 7 different research groups at Western, including both spectroscopy experts and non-experts.*The applicant team includes research groups engaged in active programs focused on the development of photoluminescent materials and an advanced understanding of their photophysical properties to ultimately allow for their use, for example, as biological imaging probes and as the functional component of light-harvesting (solar cells) and light-emitting (OLEDs) technologies. The ability to determine absolute photoluminescence quantum yields is critical to the success of these activities. Despite a long-standing strength at Western in this area, the applicant team does not currently have access to the facilities required to determine absolute photoluminescence quantum yields, nor is it possible to upgrade existing infrastructure for this purpose. This deficiency is exacerbated by the fact that the international community has largely moved away from relative quantum yield determination methods in favor of absolute methods. This change in philosophy is due to issues surrounding poor reproducibility associated with the solvatochromocity exhibited by most photoluminescent materials, non-linear detector sensitivity at different energies that affects the match between analyte and standard, and the development of relatively inexpensive instrumentation that now allows for these measurements to be made by a wide range of researchers. *