A photofunctional bottom-up bis(dipyrrinato)zinc(II) complex nanosheet

• Published in: Nature communications Vol. 6; no. 1; p. 6713
• Main Authors: Sakamoto, Ryota, Hoshiko, Ken, Liu, Qian, Yagi, Toshiki, Nagayama, Tatsuhiro, Kusaka, Shinpei, Tsuchiya, Mizuho, Kitagawa, Yasutaka, Wong, Wai-Yeung, Nishihara, Hiroshi
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 02.04.2015; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Pub. Group
• Subjects: 140/131; 140/146; 142/126; 142/136; 639/301/357; 639/638/439; 639/925/930/1032; Chemistry; Expected utility; Graphene; Humanities and Social Sciences; Ligands; Morphology; multidisciplinary; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Zinc; Hong Kong China; China; Japan
• ISSN: 2041-1723; 2041-1723
• DOI: 10.1038/ncomms7713

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 SnO 2 electrode functions as a photoanode in a photoelectric conversion system, and is thus the first photofunctional bottom-up nanosheet. The creation of functional 2D bottom-up nanosheets woven from molecular components remains a large challenge. Here, a bottom-up nanosheet featuring a photofunctional bis(dipyrrinato)zinc(II) complex motif is synthesized using interfacial syntheses, enabling a photoelectric conversion system.