Versatile coordination chemistry towards multifunctional carbon nanotube nanohybrids

Dispersible single-walled carbon nanotubes grafted with poly(4-vinylpyridine), SWNT-PVP, were tested in coordination assays with zinc tetraphenylporphyrin (ZnP). Kinetic and spectroscopic evidence corroborates the successful formation of a SWNT-PVP.ZnP nanohybrid. Within this SWNT-PVP-ZnP nanohybrid, static electron-transfer quenching (2.0 +/- 0.1) x 10(9) s(-1) converts the photoexcited-ZnP chromophore into a radical-ion-pair state with a microsecond lifetime, namely one-electron oxidized-ZnP and reduced-SWNT.