Scientists have long speculated that polaritons—hybrids of light and matter—could be harnessed to control photochemistry. Now, researchers at the City University of New York (CUNY) have shown that these fleeting states can indeed drive a fundamental type of molecular reaction.
The study, published in Nature Nanotechnology, was led by physicist Matthew Sfeir and graduate student Kamyar Rashidi, with additional contributions from CUNY researchers Evripidis Michail, Bernardo Salcido-Santacruz, Yamuna Paudel, and Prof. Vinod Menon. Their team demonstrated that polaritons can promote charge transfer reactions, in which electrons jump from one molecule to another. Such reactions underpin solar energy devices, molecular electronics, and many manufacturing processes.
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