Trapping on demand: External regulation of excitation energy transfer in a photoswitchable smart matrix

A thin film of polystyrene has been doped with small amounts of dithienylcyclopentene (DCP) based molecular switches and perylene bisimide (PBI) chromophores to obtain a photoswitchable smart matrix. The photochromic DCP can be converted by light between two bistable conformations and thereby changes the energetic position of its lowest excited singlet state. We exploit this feature to regulate the transfer of excitation energy between PBI and DCP as a function of the externally controllable illumination conditions in such a blend.