Femtosecond studies of interparticle electron transfer in a coupled CdS–TiO2 colloidal system

We report the direct femtosecond measurements of the electron transfer process from CdS to TiO2 particles in a coupled colloidal system. The electrons initially created in the conduction band and quickly trapped at the liquid–solid interface in aqueous CdS colloids are found to be transferred to the colloidal TiO2 particles with a time constant of 2 ps, resulting in significantly slower electron–hole recombination. These coupled semiconductor colloids provide a potentially useful system for achieving efficient charge separation, which is important for many chemical reactions involving heterogeneous electron transfer.