Synthesis, electron transport, and charge storage properties of fullerene-zinc porphyrin hybrid nanodiscs

A donor (D)-acceptor (A) based system has been developed with the help of a newly synthesized Zn-porphyrin complex and C-60 fullerene. A series of spectroscopic methods, absorption spectroscopy (UV-Vis- NIR), powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) measurements, confirm the existence of a charge transfer based complex between Zn-porphyrin and C-60 fullerene. By using this D-A based system, circular disc-like nano objects have been generated. With the help of these nano objects, a diode has been fabricated. Current-voltage (I-V) and the capacitance-voltage (C-V) analyses of the diode were performed. The critical role of the Ag-C-60-Zn-porphyrin and C60-Zn-porphyrin-SiOx interfaces are clearly understood from the I-V characteristics of the present device. Existence of a hysteresis loop in the C-V plot indicates that the device is indeed suitable for charge storage applications.