SBIR Phase I: Porphyrin and Porphyrin-TiO2 Nanoparticles: Method of Preparation and Application

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project will develop a method for preparation of porphyrin and porphyrin-titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles. Porphyrin and porphyrin-TiO2 nanoparticles are promising advanced materials for catalysis, artificial photosynthetic systems, nonlinear optical and electronic materials. In initial work, a broad range of porphyrin nanoparticles of 10-100nm diameter were prepared by mixing solvent techniques. The prepared porphyrin nanoparticles were characterized by DLS, AFM and UV-Vis. The prepared porphyrin nanoparticles are stable in air from weeks to months and have been successfully transferred to an alumina (Al2O3) surface. The porphyrin nanoparticles were found to have excellent catalytic activities in epoxidatin of olefins. The method has been scaled up to prepare 1g scale porphyrin nanoparticles. The elegance of the method lies in its simplicity and can be economically scaled up to industry scale, which is the subject of this project. The preliminary results also show that the agent used to prevent agglomeration can be covalently attached to the dye forming the particle or as part of the solvent system. The potential commercial application of porphyrin and porphyrin-TiO2 nanoparticles will include epoxidation of olefins, partial oxidation of saturated hydrocarbons, photosynthetic reaction centers, novel photonic materials and electronics.