In Situ Fabrication of meso-Tetrakis(4-sulfonatophenyl)porphyrin Nanostructures with Excitonic Absorption on Glass Substrate

In this article, we report in situ fabrication of meso-tetrakis(4-sulfonatophenyl)porphyrin (TPPS) nanostructures with excitonic absorption on glass substrate. The exposure of TPPS thin film coated on a glass plate to HCl vapor resulted in the formation of nanostructures of TPPS. The formed TPPS nanostructures on glass plate were characterized by UV-vis, steady state emission spectral techniques, atomic force microscopy, and high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM). A new sharp and intense absorption band (excitonic band) at 490 nm was observed for TPPS nanostructures on glass plate. Protonation of tertiary nitrogen atoms of TPPS ring by HCl molecules leads to the formation of nanostructures of J-aggregates of TPPS on glass surface. The height of the TPPS nanostructures was found to be 50-170 nm with an average width of 100 nm. HR-TEM images showed that the formed TPPS J-aggregates consist of tiny nanorods. The size of the nanostructures was tuned successfully by varying the concentration of TPPS used for thin film preparation.