Conductive nanostructured films of poly-tetrakis-5,10,15,20-(4-aminophenyl)porphyrin (TAPP) can be grown electrochemically or through interfacial oxidative polymerization. The poly-TAPP nanomorphology is sensitive to the electrochemical solvent, potentiometric method, and the aminophenyl porphyrin monomer utilized. To elucidate the molecular structure of poly-TAPP and to correlate structures with proposed polymerization and conductivity mechanisms, reflectance FT-IR and spectroelectrochemistry were used to detect the presence and electroactivity of dihydrophenazine and phenazine polymer linkages formed during the polymerization.

Poly-TAPP nanofiber films were evaluated for use in a bulk heterojunction solar cell (with PCBM) and in an inverse dye-sensitized TiO₂ solar cell using the poly-TAPP nanoporous scaffold to control the interfacial contact region between donor (poly-TAPP) and acceptor (PCBM or TiO₂) phases. Poly-TAPP/PCBM cells exhibited short-circuit current densities of 140 μA/cm ² and open-circuit potential values up to 500 mV under simulated full-sun illumination. An inverse dye-sensitized solar cell was developed by incorporating TiO₂ into a dye-coated nanoporous poly-TAPP electrode. These cells demonstrated short-circuit current densities up to 46 μA/cm ² and open-circuit potential values of 232 mV under AM 1.5 solar illumination.