TY - JOUR A1 - Preiss, J. A1 - Kage, Daniel A1 - Hoffmann, Katrin A1 - Martínez, T. J. A1 - Resch-Genger, Ute A1 - Presselt, M. T1 - Ab initio prediction of fluorescence lifetimes involving solvent environments by means of COSMO and vibrational broadening N2 - The fluorescence lifetime is a key property of fluorophores that can be utilized for microenvironment probing, analyte sensing, and multiplexing as well as barcoding applications. For the rational design of lifetime probes and barcodes, theoretical methods have been developed to enable the ab initio prediction of this parameter, which depends strongly on interactions with solvent molecules and other chemical species in the emitters' immediate environment. In this work, we investigate how a conductor-like screening model (COSMO) can account for variations in fluorescence lifetimes that are caused by such fluorophore−solvent interactions. Therefore, we calculate vibrationally broadened fluorescence spectra using the nuclear ensemble method to obtain distorted molecular geometries to sample the electronic transitions with time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT). The influence of the solvent on fluorescence lifetimes is accounted for with COSMO. For example, for 4-hydroxythiazole fluorophore containing different heteroatoms and acidic and basic moieties in aprotic and protic solvents of varying polarity, this approach was compared to experimentally determined lifetimes in the same solvents. Our results demonstrate a good correlation between theoretically predicted and experimentally measured fluorescence lifetimes except for the polar solvents Ethanol and acetonitrile that can specifically interact with the heteroatoms and the carboxylic acid of the thiazole derivative. KW - Fluorescence lifetime KW - Ab initio calculation KW - COSMO KW - Conductor-like screening model PY - 2018 DO - https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpca.8b08886 SN - 1089-5639 SN - 1520-5215 VL - 122 IS - 51 SP - 9813 EP - 9820 PB - American Chemical Society CY - Washington, DC AN - OPUS4-47177 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Rades, Steffi A1 - Borghetti, P. A1 - Ortel, Erik A1 - Wirth, Thomas A1 - Blanco, M. A1 - Gómez, E. A1 - Martinez, A. A1 - Jupille, J. A1 - Martra, G. A1 - Hodoroaba, Vasile-Dan T1 - Control of functionalization of supports for subsequent assembly of titania nanoparticle films N2 - For self‐assembling of TiO2 nanoparticles in multiple layers by layer‐by‐layer deposition to be applied to TiO2 thin films with defined and homogeneous thickness for large‐scale applications, the proper functionalization of substrate surface is a prerequisite to guarantee sufficient adhesion. The substrates selected and tested in the present paper were conductive, fluorine‐doped tin oxide (FTO) glass, nonconductive silica glass, and titanium alloy. The current study focusses on the analytical control of the stepwise functionalization of the substrates with 3‐aminopropyltriethoxysilane and glutaraldehyde (GA) for both the FTO glass and silica glass and with 3‐aminepropyl phosphonic acid and GA for Ti alloy. The analyses have been conducted by means of surface sensitive methods, X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy, Auger electron spectroscopy, and time‐of‐flight secondary ions mass spectrometry. Chemical composition of surface of functionalized substrates shows differences in the degree and type of modification in dependence on substrate. It could be demonstrated that the best functionalized substrates were the conductive FTO glasses. The analysis of the functionalized Ti substrates has revealed that the surface coverage with 3‐aminepropyl phosphonic acid and GA molecules is an inhomogeneous one, and further optimization of the two‐step functionalization on the Ti alloy substrate is necessary. KW - Nanoparticles KW - Surface functionalization KW - TiO2 KW - SEM/EDX KW - Auger Electron Spectroscopy KW - ToF-SIMS KW - Thin films PY - 2018 DO - https://doi.org/10.1002/sia.6398 SN - 0142-2421 SN - 1096-9918 VL - 50 IS - 11 SP - 1200 EP - 1206 PB - John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. AN - OPUS4-46406 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -