Surfactant‐Induced Interfacial Aggregation of Porphyrins for Structuring Color‐Tunable Liquids

Abstract

Locking nonequilibrium shapes of liquids into targeted architectures by interfacial jamming of nanoparticles is an emerging area in material science. 5,10,15,20‐tetrakis(4‐sulfonatophenyl) porphyrin (H6TPPS) shows three different aggregation states that present an absorption imaging platform to monitor the assembly and jamming of supramolecular polymer surfactants (SPSs) at the liquid/liquid interface. The interfacial interconversion of H6TPPS, specifically H4TPPS2− dissolved in water, from J‐ to an H‐aggregation was induced by strong electrostatic interactions with amine‐terminated polystyrene dissolved in toluene at the water/toluene interface. This resulted in color‐tunable liquids due to interfacial jamming of the SPSs formed between H4TPPS2− and amine‐terminated polystyrene. However, the formed SPSs cannot lock in nonequilibrium shapes of liquids. In addition, a self‐wrinkling behavior was observed when amphiphilic triblock copolymers of PS‐block‐poly(2‐vinylpyridine)‐block‐poly(ethylene oxide) were used to interact with H4TPPS2−. Subsequently, the SPSs formed can lock in nonequilibrium shapes of liquids.