Phthalocyanines: From outstanding electronic properties to emerging applications

This review paper gives a brief overview on how the outstanding chemical and physical properties of phthalocyanines and phthalocyanine derivatives are being studied and employed in order to construct state-of-the-art technological devices. In a first instance, a short account on how the nature of the phthalocyanine structure and its organization in condensed phases play an important role in their conducting and ultraviolet-visible absorption properties is presented. Consequently, these basic electronic and photophysical features of phthalocyanines allow us to explain why phthalocyanine-based multicomponent covalent or noncovalent donor-acceptor systems may give rise to very interesting photophysical…