Designing nanoscale devices requires a clear understanding of the hierarchical structural organization of the functional material - from the design of the molecule, to how the molecules self-assemble into supramolecular structures, to how these structures organize on various surfaces. Investigations comparing the structures in solution to the structures found on surfaces such as in thin films, nanoparticles, and nanoarrays, reveal the complex interplay between the energetics of self-organization and the energetics of interactions of supramolecular systems with surfaces. A perspective on the design of porphyrins that self-assemble into discrete supramolecular structures that subsequently self-organize into nanoparticles and films, and some of the factors dictating solution and surface morphology is presented.
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