New nanomaterials and nanotechnological development has a huge impact on modern and innovative science. Within this trend, a field of considerable significance is the construction of nanometric supramolecular systems through self-assembly of molecular components. Porphyrins are commonly used as building blocks, mainly, due to their interesting and tunable physicochemical properties. They are strong chromophores, with measurable redox and optical properties, (having) molecular recognition capacity towards specific ligands and (show) a marked catalytic activity. Therefore, nanostructures (nanoparticles, nanorods, nanofibers, and nanotubes) modified or built up with porphyrins have been widely used in advanced optoelectronic devices, electrochemical and optical sensors, as photosensitizers (and) catalysts. The aim of this project is the design and development of porphyrin nanostructures with applications such as sensors and catalysts, combining the intrinsic properties of porphyrins with the novel properties derived from the architecture obtained after molecular assembly.
Group Leader:
Mariana Hamer
mhamer@unsam.edu.ar
Posdoctoral fellow
Rolando Caraballo
rcaraballo@unsam.edu.ar
PhD student
Eithan Hochman