Dr. Alejandro Cadranel

Dr. Cadranel is a researcher at the Chair of Physical Chemistry I (FAU) in Germany, and a Faculty member (Investigador Adjunto) at CONICET and University of Buenos Aires in Argentina.

Our research pursues the mitigation of climate change, exploring physical chemistry, inorganic chemistry and nanomaterials for solar-to-chemical transformations.

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Carbon Nanodots for Solar-to-Fuel Catalysis

Carbon Nanodots prepared from biomolecules contain molecular fragments associated to the nanoparticle, preserved thanks to the pre-carbonization conditions employed in the synthesis. These molecular fragments play the lead role in both of the key functions of solar-to-hydrogen conversion: visible-light absorption and catalytic activity. We investigate different biomolecular precursors, the mechanism behind the formation of molecular fluorophores and catalysts, their catalytic activity and mechanisms. Our contributions include:

A recent review: Designing carbon dots for enhanced photo-catalysis: Challenges and opportunities

We obtained record hydrogen evolution activity in the absence of co-catalysts, and identified the molecular moieties associated to the carbon nanoparticles that determine their photocatalytic behavior.

“Carbon Nanodots for All-in-One Photocatalytic Hydrogen Generation”. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2021, 143, 48, 20122–20132

We uncovered the molecular origins of visible-light absorption in CNDs.

“Understanding the Visible Absorption of Electron Accepting and Donating CNDs”. Small 2023, 19, 31, e2207239

Anti-Dissipative Solar-Energy Conversion

We engineer kinetic barriers to trap high-energy excited states and to exploit them in productive chemistry. Our contributions include:

A recent review: Harnessing high-energy MLCT states for artificial photosynthesis

We avoided the dissipation of 140 meV in photoinduced electron transfer models.
“Anti-Dissipative Strategies toward More Efficient Solar Energy Conversion”
J.Am. Chem. Soc. 2023, 145, 9, 5163–5173

We quantified hole reconfiguration barriers, dove into their physical origin and identified the conical intersections in simple charge-transfer chromophores. We also demonstrated that different hole wavefunction symmetries lead to separate reactivity in donor-acceptor complexes.

“Unusually high energy barriers for internal conversion in a {Ru(bpy)} chromophore”

Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. 2022, 24, 26428-26437

“Bifurcation of excited state trajectories toward energy transfer or electron transfer directed by wave function symmetry”

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.  2021, 118, 4, e2018521118

Excited-State Mixed-Valence Systems

We translate decades of ground-state research into the excited state to mimic the products of primary charge separation in natural photosynthesis. Our contributions include:

A recent review:

An introduction to the Chemistry and Properties of Excited-State Mixed-Valence Systems

We created the excited-state analog of the famous mixed-valence system, quantified excited-state electronic coupling and exploited its nanosecond lifetime in bimolecular photoinduced electron transfer.

“The Excited-State Creutz-Taube Ion”. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2022, 61, 49, e202211747

Photoexcitation triggers drastic conformational changes in the bridge, switching electronic communication in the ground and excited states.

“A photoinduced mixed-valence photoswitch”. Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. 2022, 24, 15121-15128