Critical evaluation of the application of direct energy transfer in probing the morphology of porous solids

Abstract

The decay of an initially excited donor due to the presence of acceptor molecules embedded in porous silica gels has been studied. The time evolution of the decay process has been related to the geometrical restrictions imposed on the participating molecules by the porous structure of the silicas. Fractal and regular geometrical shape models have been confronted with experimental findings. We conclude that for silica gels simple pore geometries, i.e., spheres and cylinders, account well for the relaxation behavior. The decay patterns exhibit temporal crossovers typical of dynamics in restricted geometries.