A photofunctional bottom-up bis(dipyrrinato)zinc(II) complex nanosheet.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 25831973.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/ncomms7713 and PMC identifier 4396372.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Two-dimensional polymeric nanosheets have recently gained much attention, particularly top-down nanosheets such as graphene and metal chalcogenides originating from bulk-layered mother materials. Although molecule-based bottom-up nanosheets manufactured directly from molecular components can exhibit greater structural diversity than top-down nanosheets, the bottom-up nanosheets reported thus far lack useful functionalities. Here we show the design and synthesis of a bottom-up nanosheet featuring a photoactive bis(dipyrrinato)zinc(II) complex motif. A liquid/liquid interfacial synthesis between a three-way dipyrrin ligand and zinc(II) ions results in a multi-layer nanosheet, whereas an air/liquid interfacial reaction produces a single-layer or few-layer nanosheet with domain sizes of >10 μm on one side. The bis(dipyrrinato)zinc(II) metal complex nanosheet is easy to deposit on various substrates using the Langmuir-Schäfer process. The nanosheet deposited on a transparent SnO2 electrode functions as a photoanode in a photoelectric conversion system, and is thus the first photofunctional bottom-up nanosheet.