Nonlinear optical response and electrocatalytic activity of cobalt phthalocyanine clicked zinc oxide nanoparticles

In this article, we report on the linking of cobalt tetrakis (4-pentyn-oxy) phthalocyanine (CoTPPc) to ZnO nanoparticles via click chemistry. Subsequently, electrocatalytic activity and nonlinear optical properties were investigated (the latter using an open Z-scan technique at 532 nm). The linking of CoTPPc with ZnO resulted in the lowest limiting intensity value of 0.27 J.Cm−2, the βeff (cmW−1) values were found to be 1.51 × 10-8 and 7.10 × 104 for ZnO and CoTPPc-ZnO respectively. The catalytic rate constants (M−1s−1) (and limits of detection) were 4.1 × 104 (12.87 µM), 5.7 × 104 (8.62 µM) and 7.36 × 104 (4.35 µM) for ZnO, CoTPPc and CoTPPc-ZnO. Hence linking ZnO nanoparticles to CoTPPc result in the enhancement of both nonlinear optical behaviour and catalytic activity. © 2020 Elsevier B.V.