With regard to the world's decreasing energy resources, developing strategies to exploit solar energy become more and more important. Inspired by natural systems such as assemblies performing photosynthesis, it is highly promising to self-assemble synthetic functional species to form more effective or tailored supramolecular photocatalysts. In this contribution, a new type of photocatalytically active supramolecular nanostructures in aqueous solution will be presented: supramolecular nano-objects obtained through self-assembly of polyelectrolytes and multivalent organic or inorganic counterions. For example, Polyelectrolyte-porphyrin nanoscale assemblies exhibit up to 20-fold higher photocatalytic activity than the corresponding porphyrins without polymeric template. Other supramolecular catalysts based on polyelectrolytes can exhibit expressed selectivity in a photocatalytic model reaction or even allow catalytic reactions in solution that are not possible with the building blocks only. Further, it is highly promising to extend the concept to include metal or semiconductor nanoparticles.<br/>Another approach is to transfer light energy into mechanical energy. While the effect of light on the nanoparticle size in electrostatic self-assembly has been recently established by us, the question of whether light can be used to trigger the nanoassembly shape will also be discussed. Shape responsivity is highly desirable for nanotechnology, sensors and in pharmacy, especially when realized in aqueous solution.

Tunable structure and function of electrostatically self-assembled polymer nano-objects in solution

253rd National Meeting (2017)

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