posted on 2015-01-21, 00:00authored byJavier López-Andarias, María José Rodriguez, Carmen Atienza, Juan Luis López, Tsubasa Mikie, Santiago Casado, Shu Seki, José L. Carrascosa, Nazario Martín
Controlling
self-organization and morphology of chemical architectures
is an essential challenge in the search for higher energy-conversion
efficiencies in a variety of optoelectronic devices. Here, we report
a highly ordered donor/acceptor functional material, which has been
obtained using the principle of ionic self-assembly. Initially, an
electron donor π-extended tetrathiafulvalene and an electron-acceptor
perylene-bisimide were self-organized separately obtaining n- and p-nanofibers at the same scale.
These complementary n- and p-nanofibers
are endowed with ionic groups with opposite charges on their surfaces.
The synergic interactions establish periodic alignments between both
nanofibers resulting in a material with alternately segregated donor/acceptor
nanodomains. Photoconductivity measurements show values for these n/p-co-assembled materials up to 0.8 cm2 V–1 s–1, confirming the
effectiveness in the design of these heterojunction structures. This
easy methodology offers great possibilities to achieve highly ordered n/p-materials for potential applications
in different areas such as optoelectonics and photovoltaics.