One-dimensional (1D) silver oxide nanoparticle arrays were synthesized by illuminating the composite Langmuir-Blodgett monolayers of porphyrin derivatives/Ag+ and n-hexadecyl dihydrogen phosphate (n-HDP)/Ag+ deposited on carbon-coated copper grids with daylight and then exposing them to air. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) observation shows that the nanoparticle size is around 3 nm, with the separation of about 2-3 nm. High-resolution TEM (HRTEM) investigation indicates that the particles are made up of Ag2O. Ag nanorods with the width of 15-35 nm and the length of several hundreds of nanometers were synthesized by irradiating the composite Langmuir monolayers of porphyrin derivatives/Ag+ and n-HDP/Ag+ by UV-Iight directly at the air/water interface at room temperature. HRTEM image and selected-area electron diffraction (SAED) pattern indicate that the nanorods are single crystals with the (110) face of the face-centered cubic (fcc) silver parallel to the air/water interface. The formation of the I D arrays and the nanorods should be attributed to the templating effect of the linear supramolecules formed by porphyrin derivative or n-HDP molecules in Langmuir monolayers through non-covalent interactions. (C) 2007 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.