Studies on structural, optical, homo-lumo and mechanical properties of piperazinium p-hydroxybenzoate monohydrate single crystal for nonlinear optical applications

Photoswitchable nonlinear optical properties of azobenzene-based supramolecular complexes: insights from density functional theory

Density functional theory (DFT) calculations were performed for a series of supramolecular assemblies containing azobenzene (Azo-X where X = I, Br and H) and alkoxystilbazole subunits to evaluate their electronic, linear and nonlinear optical properties. These assemblies are derivatives of azobenzene, obtained by the substitution of electron-withdrawing and electron-donating groups onto the molecular skeleton. The interaction energies (E_int) of all the designed supramolecular complexes (IA-IF, IIA-IIF and IIIA-IIIF) range from -1.0 kcal mol^-1 to -7.7 kcal mol^-1. The electronic properties of these hydrogen/halogen bond driven supramolecular assemblies such as vertical ionization energies (VIE), HOMO-LUMO energy gap (G_H-L), excitation energies, density of states (DOS) and natural population (NPA) analyses were also computed. The non-covalent interaction index (NCI) and quantum theory of atoms in molecules (QTAIM) analyses were also performed to validate the nature of inter- and intra-molecular interactions in these complexes. A substantial enhancement in the first hyperpolarizability (β₀) values of the designed supramolecular complexes was observed, which is driven by the charge transfer from the pyridyl moiety of alkoxystilbazole to Azo-X. The highest β₀ value of 1.3 × 10⁴ au was observed for the supramolecular complex of p-nitro substituted azobenzene with alkoxystilbazole (ID complex). Moreover, the results show that the substitution of electron-withdrawing groups on Azo-X can also bring larger β₀ values for such complexes. It was confirmed on a purely theoretical basis that both the types of noncovalent interactions present and the substituent group incorporated influence the nonlinear optical (NLO) response of the systems. Furthermore, the β₀ values of the E (trans) and Z (cis) forms were compared to demonstrate the two-way photoinduced switching mechanism.

Synthesis, characterization, and theoretical studies of the photovoltaic properties of novel reactive azonitrobenzaldehyde derivatives

All dyes conduct but at different degrees of absorption; it is interesting to study the degree of conductivity and absorptivity of novel reactive azo-dyes in respect to dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) to ascertain their viability for such applications. In this study, four novel reactive azo-dyes were experimentally synthesized from p-aminobenzaldehyde, 4-amino-3-nitrobenzaldehyde, and aniline through series of condensation and coupling reactions. The various functional groups, molecular connectivities, and molecular weight of the various fragments of the synthesized dyes were elucidated using the GC-MS, FT-IR, UV-vis, and NMR respectively. The experimentally determined structures were modeled and investigated using density functional theory (DFT) and time-dependent density functional theory (TD-DFT) approaches to computationally compute the electronic structure properties, reactivity, absorption and solvatochromism in four different phases: gas, ethanol, acetone, and water, and the photovoltaic properties for possible applications in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). By comparing the HOMO (E_H) and the LUMO (E_L) energies from the results obtained demonstrates that dye D has the highest E_L energy value of −2.48 eV with a relatively lowest E_H energy value of −5.63 eV such that it lies underneath the conduction band edge of TiO₂ which is necessary to enable charge regeneration. Pi-electron delocalization was observed from the natural bond orbital (NBO) calculations between the different aromatic rings with dye B and A having the relatively highest and least second-order stabilization energies between σ* → σ* and LP* → LP interacting orbitals respectively. It is also observed in all the solvents that the Gibbs free energy of injection (ΔG_inject) is greater than 0.2 eV and hence, all the studied azo structures in the four phases provided efficient electron injection and light harvesting efficiency (LHE), however, the value of ΔG_inject for dyes B and D is greatest in all the four phases and thus, provided the highest electron injection of all the dyes. From the fact-findings of quantum theory of atoms-in-molecules (QTAIM), dyes A and C have extra-stability due to their relatively high numbers of intramolecular H-bond interactions along with some additional intra-atomic bonding between atoms within the studied compounds. Hence, all the four dyes are good for DSSCs applications.

Four novel reactive azo-dyes were experimentally synthesized from p-aminobenzaldehyde, 4-amino-3-nitrobenzaldehyde, and aniline through series of condensation and coupling reactions, and their properties were assessed for possible application in dye-sensitized solar cells.

Synthesis, characterization, DFT, and TD-DFT studies of (E)-5-((4,6-dichloro-1,3,5-triazin-2-yl)amino)-4-hydroxy-3-(phenyldiazenyl)naphthalene-2,7-diylbis(hydrogen sulfite)

In this study, (E)-5-((4,6-dichloro-1,3,5-triazin-2-yl)amino)-4-hydroxy-3-(phenyldiazenyl)naphthalene-2,7-diylbis(hydrogen sulfite), a cyanurated H-acid (CHA) azo dye, was synthesized and characterized using FT-IR spectrophotometer and GC-MS spectroscopy. A density functional theory (DFT) based B3LYP and CAM-B3LYP method with 6–311 + G (d,p) basis set analysis was computed for HOMO-LUMO, natural bonding orbitals (NBO), UV-Vis absorptions and excitation interactions, in order to understand its molecular orbital excitation properties. A low Energy gap (Eg) of 2.947 eV was obtained from the molecular orbital analysis, which showed that HOMO to LUMO transition is highly feasible; hence CHA is adequate for diverse electronic and optic applications. Studies of the first five excitations (S0 → S1/S2/S3/S4/S5) of CHA revealed that S0 → S1 and S0 → S3 are π → π* type local excitations distributed around the –N=N– group; S0 → S2, a Rydberg type local excitation; S0 → S4, a highly localized π → π* excitation; while S0 → S5 is an n → π* charge transfer from a benzene ring to –N=N– group. From NBO analysis, we obtained the various donor–acceptor orbital interactions contributing to the stabilization of the studied compound. Most significantly, some strong hyper-conjugations (n → n*) within fragments, and non-bondingand anti-bonding intermolecular (n → n*/π* and π → n*/π*) interactions were observed to contribute appreciable energies. This study is valuable for understanding the molecular properties of the azo dyes compounds and for synthesizing new ones in the future.