Effect of structural variation on photocurrent efficiency in alkyl-substituted porphyrin solid-state thin layer photocells

Three structurally variant alkyl-substituted porphyrins [zinc(II) 2,3,7,8,12,13,17,18-octa-n-decylporphyrin 2, metal(II) meso-5,10,15,20-tetra-n-undecylporphyrin 3 (metal = cobalt, copper, palladium, and zinc), and zinc(II) meso-5,10,15,20-tetrakis(phenoxy-n-nonyl)porphyrin 4] exist as photoconductive insulators and produce significant short circuit photocurrent and open circuit photopotential when irradiated as solid thin films in an indium-tin oxide sandwich cell. Liquid crystalline phase stability, the identity of the inserted metal, and the nature of its supramolecular packing all influence the observed photoelectrochemical response. Porphyrin 2, which has a stable liquid crystalline phase, produces higher steady-state photocurrents than do the corresponding meso-substituted porphyrins 3 and 4, although liquid crystallinity is not an absolute requirement for observation of a photoresponse. Among porphyrins 3, the zinc complex gave the highest steady-state photocurrent. When a phenyl ring orthogonal to the porphyrinic plane was present (as in 4), the observed photovoltaic response was significantly diminished, probably because of difficulties in achieving effective close packing.