In 2009 the U.S. National Science Foundation announced the realignment of the Chemistry Divisions introducing the new interdisciplinary program of “Macromolecular, Supramolecular and Nanochemistry.” This statement officially recognizes a field of studies that has already seen the publication of many thousands of works in the past 20 years. Nanotechnology and supramolecular chemistry can be found in the most diverse disciplines, from biology to engineering, to physics. Furthermore, many technologies rely on nanoscale dimensions for more than one component. Nanomaterials and technologies are on the market with a range of applications from composite materials, to electronics, to medicine, to sensing and more. This thesis will introduce a variety of studies and applications of supramolecular chemistry to form nanoscale photonic materials from soft matter.

We will first illustrate a method to synthesize metallic nanoparticles using plasmids DNA as a mold. The circular DNA functions as a sacrificial template to shape the particles into narrowly monodispersed nanodiscs. Secondly, we will describe the synthesis of a highly fluorinated porphyrin derivative and how the fluorines improve the formation of ultra thin films when the porphyrin is blended with fullerene C₆₀. Finally, we will show how to increase the short-circuit current in a solar cell built with an internal parallel tandem light harvesting design. A blend of phthalocyanines, each with a decreasing optical band gap, is supramolecularly self-organized with pyridyl-C₆₀ within thin films. The different band gaps of the single phthalocyanines capture a wider segment of the solar spectrum increasing the overall efficiency of the device.

In conclusion, we have presented a number of studies for the preparation of inorganic and organic nanomaterials and their application in supramolecularly organized photonic devices.