Fullerene non-linear excited state absorption induced by gold nanoparticles light harvesting

Au nanoparticles can be synthesized in solution by a laser ablation methodology which allows to obtain funtionalized metal nanoparticles with a disulfide fullerene derivative in a simple one step process. The supramolecular system is shown to be an efficient non-linear absorbers of 532 nm nanosecond laser pulses. The mechanism of the non-linear absorption is shown to proceed through a light harvesting step by the metal nanoparticles and an efficient energy transfer to the fullerene moieties which absorb in a non-linear regime through their triplet states.