Abstract
Supramolecular assembly can yield ordered structures by taking advantage
of the cumulative effect of multiple non-covalent interactions between
adjacent molecules. The thermodynamic origin of many self-assembled
structures in water is the balance between the hydrophilic and
hydrophobic segments of the molecule. Here, we show that this approach
can be generalized to use solvophobic and solvophilic segments of fully
hydrophobic alkylated fullerene molecules. Addition of n-alkanes results in their assembly—due to the antipathy of C60 towards n-alkanes—into micelles and hexagonally packed gel-fibres containing insulated C60 nanowires. The addition of pristine C60 instead directs the assembly into lamellar mesophases by increasing the proportion of π-conjugated
material in the mixture. The assembled structures contain a large
fraction of optoelectronically active material and exhibit comparably
high photoconductivities. This method is shown to be applicable to
several alkyl–π-conjugated molecules, and can be used to construct organized functional materials with π-conjugated sections.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 690-696 |
Number of pages | 7 |
Journal | Nature Chemistry |
Volume | 6 |
Issue number | 8 |
Early online date | 22 Jun 2014 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 3 Sept 2014 |
Keywords
- Molecular self-assembly
- Self-assembly