Study of Solid Transparent Nanocomposite Organic/Inorganic Matrices and Thin Films by Time-Resolved Fluorescence Techniques

This work focuses on the study of nanocomposite organic/inorganic materials, particularly, those made by the sol-gel method, by using time-resolved fluorescence techniques. A model of stretched exponentials is presented and used to fit fluorescence (luminescence) decay profiles for fluorescence quenching reactions obtained by energy-transfer or by diffusion or both. Various types of information on both bulk and thin-film nanocomposite materials can be obtained by such analysis: for example, determination of the percolation threshold for the organic subphase, localization or mobility of incorporated molecular species, and extraction of structural parameters.