Date of Award

8-15-2019

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Applied Science

First Advisor

Brian Berry

Second Advisor

Darin Jones

Abstract

Eventual depletion and environmental toxicity of natural non-renewable energy resources are two issues pushing research toward alternative energy resources. Nature’s process of renewable, unlimited, clean energy production is photosynthesis and porphyrins are a critical component due to their ability to undergo photoinduced electron transfer. This property also makes porphyrins excellent candidates for applications such as solar cells, water splitting, and optical sensing. Researchers have previously tethered porphyrins to fullerene (C60), an excellent electron acceptor, to mimic the reaction centers in photosynthesis. Photoinduced electron transfer in these donor-acceptor dyads has been investigated with particular focus on factors such as the donor, acceptor, and linker between the two. This project focuses on nanostructured donor-acceptor dyads created using liquid-liquid interfacial precipitation (LLIP). LLIP is a self-assembly technique in which supramolecular 1, 2, and 3-D structures are fabricated. The morphology of these LLIP structures can be tuned by adjusting a variety of parameters. Specifically in this work, three porphyrin-C60 dyads have been synthesized using a modified tetraphenylporphyrin with varying linker lengths between the porphyrin and fullerene. Porphyrins also exist in nature in the metallated form which usually enhances activity. Therefore, these porphyrin-fullerene dyads were metallated as well. These compounds were then nanostructured using LLIP and the morphologies characterized using SEM. Morphological effects on oxygen reduction activity was investigated using CV. Future work involves optimization of photovoltaic and energy devices by tailoring the morphology for supercapacitors and dye sensitized solar cells.

Download

Included in

Chemistry Commons

Share

COinS