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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Macrocycles as Molecular Units to Build up Electroresponsive Materials: A Comparative Theoretical Investigation of the Electronic and Optical Properties of Phthalocyanine and Related Systems

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Besides their classical and well-known applications as, e.g., dyes, pigments, catalysts, etc. [1], phthalocyanines (Pc’s) have been of particular interest in many fields of basic and applied research concerning solar cells [2], photosensitizers [3], low dimensional metals [4], gas sensors [5], electrochromism [6], Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) films [7], and nonlinear optics [8]. As an example, gas sensors [9], electronic devices [10], laser recording materials [11], and photovoltaic cells [12] can now be built from LB films of phthalocyanines. This great variety of interesting applications results from a number of unique properties that phthalocyanines exhibit On the one hand, they show an exceptional thermal and chemical stability (undergoing no noticeable degradation in air up to 400–500° C) and a very large chemical versatility (more than 70 different metallophthalocyanines (MPc’s) can be obtained). On the other hand, phthalocyanines present remarkable optical (intense absorptions in the visible), electrical (semiconducting and photoconducting), and magnetic properties that can be easily tuned.