Synthesis and investigation on optical and electrical properties of a triflato iron porphyrin: Application as an optical BPA sensor

•Synthesis of a triflato iron porphyrin.•Determination of the optical gap.•Electrical and dielectrical study.•Optical BPA sensing. In this study, we first describe the synthesis of the triflato(5,10,15,20-tetrakis(4-metoxyphenyl) porphyrinato) iron(III) complex with the formula [FeIII(TMPP)(SO3CF3)] (P1). This species were characterized by proton NMR and IR. Then optical and electrical properties of P1 thin films have been investigated. The triflato iron porphyrin film exhibit an absorption spectrum with a resolved electronic structure in the UV–vis range and the energy gap was determined by the Tauc method. Electrical properties of the ITO/P1/Al structure have been investigated by I–V characteristics and impedance spectroscopy measurements. The conduction is governed by space-charge-limited current (SCLC) mechanism. The impedance spectroscopy study showed a hopping transport process. Its interaction with Bisphenol A (BPA) was then investigated by UV–vis spectroscopy in a sensing window of 10−9–10−4M. The iron-porphyrin species shows a sensitive response to BPA, which induces an absorbance change to the Soret band. The interaction mechanism of P1 with BPA involved a coordination interaction.