CDS-PARTICLE-MEDIATED TRANSMEMBRANE PHOTOELECTRON TRANSFER IN SURFACTANT VESICLES

Cadmium sulfide (CdS) particles have been in situ generated in surfactant vesicles prepared from dihexadecyl phosphate (DHP). Absorption and emission spectra indicated the diameters of CdS particles to be 2.5-5.0 nm. Fluorescence decays of CdS particles in DHP vesicles have been found to be multiexponential and unaffected by the incorporation of cetylviologen cations, C16MV2+. Conversely, fluorescence intensities have been observed to decrease the addition Of C16MV2, indicating the predominance of static quenching in photoelectron transfer in DHP vesicles. Photoelectron transfer has been observed by monitoring the development of C16MV.+ upon the band gap irradiation of CdS particles, confined in the inner bilayers of DHP vesicles, in the presence of benzyl alcohol as a sacrificial electron donor. Transmembrane photoelectron transfer has been demonstrated in dissymmetrical DHP vesicles which contained size-quantized CdS particles in their inner bilayers, C16MV2+ in their inner and outer bilayers, and Ag+ on their outer surfaces. Band pp irradiation in the presence of benzyl alcohol has resulted in the reduction of Ag+ on the DHP vesicle outer surface.