Controllable Synthesis of Cobalt Porphyrin Nanocrystals through Micelle Confinement Self-Assembly

The self-assembly of optically active building blocks into functional nanocrystals as high-activity photocatalysts is a key in the field of photocatalysis. Cobalt porphyrin with abundant catalytic properties is extensively studied in photocatalytic water oxidation and CO2 reduction. Here, we present the fabrication of cobalt porphyrin nanocrystals through a surfactant-assisted interfacial self-assembly process using Co-tetra(4-pyridyl) porphyrin as building block. The self-assembly process relies on the combined noncovalent interactions such as π-π stacking and axial Co-N coordination between individual porphyrin molecules within surfactant micelles. Tuning different reaction conditions (temperature, the ratio of co-solvent DMF) and types of surfactant, various nanocrystals with well-defined 1D to 3D morphologies such as nanowires, nanorods and nano hexagonal prism were obtained. Due to the ordered accumulation of molecules, the nanocrystals exhibit the properties of the enhanced capability of visible light capture and can conduce to improve the transport and separation efficiency of the photogenerated carriers, which is important for photocatalysis. Further studies of photocatalytic CO2 reduction are being performed to address the relationship between the size and shape of the nanocrystals with the photocatalytic activity.