ABSTRACT
This chapter concentrates on the aggregation behavior of porphyrin molecules and photophysical and photocatalytic properties of porphyrin-based functional nanomaterials. Porphyrin-doped conjugated polymer nanoparticles with special functionalities are found to be a promising field of research for potential applications. Patra have demonstrated the synthesis of surfactant-assisted various morphologies of tetra-carboxyphenyl porphyrin nanoaggregates, and the influence of these structures on photocatalytic properties has been investigated. The chapter demonstrates the aggregation behavior of zinc octaethylporphyrin (ZnOEP) inside the conjugated polymer matrix in aqueous media. The morphological characterization of porphyrin nanoparticle, pure poly 9-venylcarbazole (PVK) nanoparticle, and porphyrin-encapsulated PVK nanoparticle was done by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). Time-resolved fluorescence decay time study reveals that the average decay of ZnOEP inside PVK nanoparticles is decreased. Indeed, the decay time of aggregated molecules is much shorter than that of its monomeric form.
