Morphology-Controlled Synthesis and Metalation of Porphyrin Nanoparticles with Enhanced Photocatalytic Performance.
The design and engineering of the size, shape, and chemistry of photoactive building blocks enables the fabrication of functional nanoparticles for applications in light harvesting, photocatalytic synthesis, water splitting, phototherapy, and photodegradation. Here, we report the synthesis of such nanoparticles through a surfactant-assisted interfacial self-assembly process using optically active porphyrin as a functional building block. The self-assembly process relies on specific interactions such as π-π stacking and metalation (metal atoms and ligand coordination) between individual porphyrin building blocks. Depending on the kinetic conditions and type of surfactants, resulting structures exhibit well-defined one- to three-dimensional morphologies such as nanowires, nanooctahedra, and hierarchically ordered internal architectures. Specifically, electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction results indicate that these nanoparticles exhibit stable single-crystalline and nanoporous frameworks. Due to the hierarchical ordering of the porphyrins, the nanoparticles exhibit collective optical properties resulted from coupling of molecular porphyrins and photocatalytic activities such as photodegradation of methyl orange (MO) pollutants and hydrogen production.
Key Laboratory for Special Functional Materials of the Ministry of Education, Henan University , Kaifeng 475004, P.R. China.|Collaborative Innovation Center of Nano Functional Materials and Applications, Henan University , Kaifeng, 475004, China.
Jiefei
J
Wang
Key Laboratory for Special Functional Materials of the Ministry of Education, Henan University , Kaifeng 475004, P.R. China.|Collaborative Innovation Center of Nano Functional Materials and Applications, Henan University , Kaifeng, 475004, China.
Yong
Y
Zhong
Key Laboratory for Special Functional Materials of the Ministry of Education, Henan University , Kaifeng 475004, P.R. China.|Collaborative Innovation Center of Nano Functional Materials and Applications, Henan University , Kaifeng, 475004, China.
Liang
L
Wang
Key Laboratory for Special Functional Materials of the Ministry of Education, Henan University , Kaifeng 475004, P.R. China.|Collaborative Innovation Center of Nano Functional Materials and Applications, Henan University , Kaifeng, 475004, China.
Na
N
Zhang
Key Laboratory for Special Functional Materials of the Ministry of Education, Henan University , Kaifeng 475004, P.R. China.|Collaborative Innovation Center of Nano Functional Materials and Applications, Henan University , Kaifeng, 475004, China.
Ronghui
R
Cao
Sandia National Laboratories , Albuquerque, New Mexico 87106, United States.
Kaifu
K
Bian
Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, The University of New Mexico/NSF Center for Micro-Engineered Materials , Albuquerque, New Mexico 87131, United States.
Leanne
L
Alarid
Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, The University of New Mexico/NSF Center for Micro-Engineered Materials , Albuquerque, New Mexico 87131, United States.
Raid E
RE
Haddad
Key Laboratory for Special Functional Materials of the Ministry of Education, Henan University , Kaifeng 475004, P.R. China.|Collaborative Innovation Center of Nano Functional Materials and Applications, Henan University , Kaifeng, 475004, China.|Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, The University of New Mexico/NSF Center for Micro-Engineered Materials , Albuquerque, New Mexico 87131, United States.
Feng
F
Bai
Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, The University of New Mexico/NSF Center for Micro-Engineered Materials , Albuquerque, New Mexico 87131, United States.|Sandia National Laboratories , Albuquerque, New Mexico 87106, United States.
Hongyou
H
Fan
Porphyrin; metalation; nanocrystals; photocatalysis; self-assembly