Fabrication and optoelectronic properties of novel films based on functionalized multiwalled carbon nanotubes and (Phthalocyaninato)Ruthenium(II) via coordination bonded layer-by-layer self-assembly

4-(2-(4-pyridinyl)Ethynyl)benzenic diazonium salt (PBD) was used to modify multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) by the self-assembly technique. After the decomposition of the diazonium group in PBD under UV irradiation, the PBD monolayer film covalently anchored on multiwalled carbon nanotubes is very stable. The obtained pyridine-modified MWCNTs (Py(Ar)-MWCNTs) have good solubility in common organic solvents. Furthermore, the layer-by-layer (LBL) self-assembled fully conjugated films of Py(Ar)-MWCNTs and (phthalocyaninato) ruthenium(II) (RuPc) were fabricated on the PBD-modified substrates, and characterized using UV-vis absorption spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and electrochemistry. The UV-vis analysis results indicate that the LBL RuPc/Py(Ar)-MWCNTs self-assembled multilayer films with axial ligands between the ruthenium atom and pyridine group were successfully fabricated, and the progressive assembly runs regularly with almost equal amounts of deposition in each cycle. A top view SEM image shows a random and homogeneous distribution of Py(Ar)-MWCNTs over the PBD-modified silicon substrate, which indicates well independence between all Py(Ar)-MWCNTs. Moreover, the opto-electronic conversion was also studied by assembling RuPc/Py(Ar)-MWCNTs multilayer films on PBD-modified ITO substrate. Under illumination, the LBL self-assembled films on ITO showed an effective photoinduced charge transfer because of their conjugated structure and the ITO current density changed with the number of bilayer. As the number of bilayers was increased, the photocurrent increases and reaches its maximum value (∼300 nA/cm²) at nine bilayers. These results allow us to design novel materials for applications in optoelectronic devices by using LBL self-assembly techniques.