Timeharp 260 pico

PDI-1 (3.2 × 10⁻⁵ M in CH₃CN) and PDI-2 (1.2 × 10⁻⁴ M in CH₃CN) were excited with a 450 nm picosecond pulsed diode laser LDH (P-C-450, PicoQuant, Berlin, Germany) with 80 MHz repetition rate. Signals were digitized with a TimeHarp 260 PICO (PicoQuant). Spectra were recorded in the custom measurement mode of EasyTau software (V.2.2.3293 version) with the settings: laser intensity: 10.0; excitation attenuator: open; emission attenuator: 100%; delta 0.5 nm; and integration time: 0.5 s. Control experiment with neat CH₃CN was recorded under the same conditions.

The UV–vis
measurements were conducted with a V670 spectrometer from Jasco, equipped
with a photomultiplier tube (PMT) and a Peltier-cooled PbS detector
in transmission mode. The transmission spectra were corrected for
a dark-count spectrum and referenced to a baseline spectrum of the
employed solvent.
The PL spectra were recorded with a Fluorolog
iHR 320 Horiba Jobin Yvon spectrometer from Horiba Scientific fitted
with a PMT detector. The PL emission was determined by finding the
emission wavelength λ_emission with a maximum PL intensity.
Time-resolved PL measurements were performed with a FluoTime 300
spectrometer from PicoQuant equipped with a TimeHarp 260 PICO counting
TCSPC unit and a 355 nm pulsed PicoQuant laser. Samples were prepared
by spin-coating or drop-casting of solutions containing QDs (∼0.1
mg/mL) and organic dyes (concentrations indicated in figure legends).
Donor decay traces were recorded at the PL peak center by using an
emission monochromator.

Liquid-electrode microchip free-flow electrophoresis (μFFE) devices were used⁸³ . Briefly, fluids were introduced to the device by PTFE tubing, 0.012″ inner diameter × 0.030″ outer diameter (Cole-Parmer) from glass syringes (Gas Tight, Hamilton) driven by syringe pumps (Cetoni neMESYS). μFFE experiments were conducted with auxiliary buffer, electrolyte, monomer reference and sample flow rates of 1,000, 200, 140 and 10 μl h⁻¹, respectively, for 15× reduction in buffer salt concentration for samples in PBS buffer.
Potentials were applied by a programmable benchtop power supply (Elektro-Automatik EA-PS 9500-06) via bent syringe tips inserted into the electrolyte outlets. Experiments were performed on a custom-built single-molecule confocal fluorescence spectroscopy setup equipped with a 488 nm wavelength laser beam (Cobolt 06-MLD 488 nm 200 mW diode laser, Cobolt). Photons were detected using a time-correlated single photon counting module (TimeHarp 260 PICO, PicoQuant) with a time resolution of 25 ps.