Thin films of tetrafluorosubstituted cobalt phthalocyanine: Structure and sensor properties

[Display omitted] •Thin films of tetrafluorosubstituted cobalt phthalocyanine were studied.•The effect of fluorine substituents to the films structure and properties was verified.•The sensor response of tetrafluorosubstituted phthalocyanine toward NH3 was studied.•The structure of analyte/phthalocyanine complex was analysed using DFT calculations. In this work, thin films of tetrafluorosubstituted cobalt phthalocyanine (CoPcF4) were prepared by organic molecular beam deposition and their structure was studied using UV–vis, polarization dependent Raman spectroscopy, XRD and atomic force microscopy. Quantum chemical calculations (DFT) have been employed in order to determine the detailed assignment of the bands in the CoPcF4 IR and Raman spectra. The electrical sensor response of CoPcF4 films to ammonia vapours was investigated and compared with that of unsubstituted cobalt phthalocyanine films. In order to explain the difference in sensitivity of the unsubstituted and fluorinated phthalocyanines to ammonia, the nature and properties of chemical binding between CoPc derivatives and NH3 were described by quantum-chemical calculations utilizing DFT method. The effect of post-deposition annealing on surface morphology and gas sensing properties of CoPcF4 films was also studied.