Self-organization of self-assembled photonic materials into functional devices: photo-switched conductors.

Linear porphyrin arrays self-assembled by either hydrogen bonding or metal ion coordination self-organize into lipid bilayer membranes. The length of the transmembrane assemblies is determined both by the thermodynamics of the intermolecular interactions in the supermolecule and by the dimension and physical chemical properties of the bilayer. Thus, the size of the porphyrin assembly can self-adjust to the thickness of the bilayer. An aqueous electron acceptor is placed on one side of the membrane and an electron donor is placed on the opposite side. When illuminated with white light, substantial photocurrents are observed. Only the assembled structures give rise to the photocurrent, as no current is observed from any of the component molecules. The fabrication of this photogated molecular electronic conductor from simple molecular components exploits several levels of self-assembly and self-organization.