Extremely strong organic–metal oxide electronic coupling caused by nucleophilic addition reaction

Electronic interactions between organic materials and inorganic semiconductors play important roles in various electronic and optoelectronic functions and also provide new functions such as optical interfacial charge-transfer (ICT) transitions having the following features. ICT transitions enable the capture of lower-energy photons than HOMO–LUMO gaps or band gaps and allow one-step charge separation without loss of energy. The hybrid material generated by the nucleophilic addition reaction between TiO2 and TCNQ exclusively exhibits strong ICT transitions. In this study, we report that strong organic–metal oxide electronic coupling is caused by the nucleophilic addition reaction, which enhances the ICT transitions. The electronic coupling between TiO2 and TCNQ occurs according to a two-step mechanism. First, the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO (π*)) of TCNQ is elevated by the nucleophilic attack of a deprotonated hydroxy group on TiO2 to TCNQ and the electron distribution is moved toward TiO2. By this elevation and redistribution, the LUMO (π*) strongly interacts with the d(t2g) orbitals of a surface Ti atom. From avoided-crossing behavior with a large splitting energy of ca. 0.95 eV, the coupling energy was estimated to be as much as 0.5 eV in the mono-Ti model complex. This strong d–π* electronic coupling leads to strong coupling between complete ICT excited states and partial ICT excited states with a large splitting energy of ca. 0.92 eV, which considerably increases the probabilities of ICT transition. This study clarified the mechanisms of the strong organic–inorganic electronic coupling and the enhancement of ICT absorption in the TiO2–TCNQ hybrid material.