Morphology Controlled Nanostructure of Zinc Porphyrin

Abstract

We have shown that various Zinc porphyrin-based nanostructures can be easily synthesized by a surfactant-assisted self-assembly method, where nonionic, anionic and cationic surfactants are employed. It was found that tuning the type of surfactant offered an alternative to promote the formation of Zinc porphyrin nanostructure with different morphologies in aqueous solutions. As-prepared nano-scale self-assemblies, including disc-shaped, ellipsoid, square and quadrangular pyramidal nanoparticles, were investigated in solution via UV/vis, fluorescence spectroscopy and SEM microscopy. The different UV/vis as well as fluorescent spectra between nano-porphyrin and its monomer further conformed that the nano-crystallization of porphyrin would result in novel optical properties differing from the single subunits.