Ultrafast direct electron transfer at organic semiconductor and metal interfaces

The ability to control direct electron transfer can facilitate the development of new molecular electronics, light-harvesting materials, and photocatalysis. However, control of direct electron transfer has been rarely reported, and the molecular conformation–electron dynamics relationships remain unclear. We describe direct electron transfer at buried interfaces between an organic polymer semiconductor film and a gold substrate by observing the first dynamical electric field–induced vibrational sum frequency generation (VSFG). In transient electric field–induced VSFG measurements on this system, we observe dynamical responses (