Ionic liquid-assisted synthesis of ultralong nanowires of zinc octaethylporphyrin and their photoresponse

Abstract

Ultralong zinc octaethylporphyrin (ZnOEP) nanowires were successfully prepared by a facile solution-phase precipitative method and fully characterized. Specifically, ionic liquids (ILs) were employed, for the first time, as “poor” solvents and chloroform as a “good” solvent of ZnOEP. Furthermore, the influence of the type of ILs, the volume ratio of chloroform/ILs, and the concentration of ZnOEP on the growth of nanowires was investigated. The results indicated that the as-obtained nanowires are ultralong, highly pure, and single crystalline. Both anions and cations of ILs were found to play important roles in the final morphology and aspect ratio of nanowires. In addition, the as-obtained ZnOEP nanowires were directly used for the construction of a prototype photodetector exhibiting excellent performance. This advancement might pave the green way for preparing nano/micro structures of organic small-molecular materials.