Fabrication and morphology control of the electrostatic self-assembled system containing porphyrin electrolytes and sulfonated fullerene derivatives

Abstract

A series of water-soluble porphyrin electrolytes with quaternary ammonium ions side chains (TEMZnPN and THMZnPN) and sulfonated fullerene derivatives were synthesised and characterised. The self-assembled system was fabricated through the electrostatic interaction between the quaternary ammonium ions on the porphyrin derivatives and the sulfonic ions on the fullerene derivatives. The optical properties of the self-assembled system in aqueous solution were recorded by ultraviolet–visible and fluorescence spectroscopy. Scanning electron microscopy indicated that the morphology of the self-assembled films was highly relative to the distance between the quaternary ammonium ions and the porphyrin core, which could be easily adjusted by changing the length of the alkyl chain in the porphyrin derivatives.