Optical Properties of Porphyrin: Graphene Oxide Composites

In this work we aim to (via a non-invasive functionalization approach) tune and alter the intrinsic features of optically “transparent” graphene, by integrating water-soluble porphyrin aggregates. We explore the potential to combine porphyrin aggregates and graphene oxide to assess the advantages of such as a composite compared to the individual systems. We apply a range of optical spectroscopy methods including photo-absorption, fluorescence assess ground-state and excited state interactions. Our studies show that comparing resonant Raman scattering with optical transmission and fluorescence microscopy that the presence of influences the microscopic structures of the resulting composites