Center for Photoinduced Charge Transfer

The Center for Photoinduced Charge Transfer (CPCT) was founded in 1989 as one of the eleven original NSF Science and Technology Centers with a mission to pursue fundamental research in the area of photoinduced charge transfer through a unique university-industrial collaboration involving the University of Rochester, Eastman Kodak, and Xerox. Photoinduced charge transfer is the fundamental process by which light energy is converted to potential energy associated with separation of electrical charge. It is the key step in photography, xerography, solar energy conversion, and photosynthesis. The CPCT is dedicated to understanding the underlying chemistry and physics of photoinduced charge transfer processes.

The Center is located on the second floor of Hutchison Hall in the Chemistry Department at the University of Rochester. The CPCT houses an unusually large amount of research equipment allowing one the ability to conduct experiments in chemical kinetics and excited state spectroscopy over a wide range of time scales. In addition, it also contains equipment for the characterization of polymers and biopolymers. Center equipment is available to Chemistry students 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The equipment is maintained by a full time technical staff member, who also trains students in the operation of Center equipment, and often assists with the design and execution of experiments. The practical training students receive is invaluable in terms of learning the advantages and pitfalls of different techniques, and helps develop the critical understanding needed to become independent scientists.

The Center is currently funded by a combination of federal, University, and industrial sources. It retains access to a broad range of technical expertise with continuing multi-disciplinary interactions with Biology, Physics, Engineering, and the University of Rochester Medical Center. This allows scientists to combine forces on challenging problems of mutual interest and make rapid progress towards their research goals.

• Center People and Current Projects

 

Experiments Available The Center is unique in that it houses the following experiments under one roof: Choose from the technique below.
Ultrafast Femtosecond Transient Absorption	Nanosecond-millisecond Flash Photolysis
Time Correlated Single Photon Counting	Picosecond Transient Absorption
Steady State Photophysics	Polymer/Macromolecule Characterization

For more information about the Center please contact: Prof. Joe Dinnocenzo Department of Chemistry Hutchison Hall University of Rochester Rochester, NY 14627

Questions? We would love to hear from you. Click here to send us email: cpct@chem.rochester.edu

 CPCT page designed, written and edited by Dr. Chris Collison.