A π-conjugated nanosheet comprising planar nickel bis(dithiolene) complexes was synthesized by a bottom-up method. A liquid-liquid interfacial reaction using benzenehexathiol in the organic phase and nickel(II) acetate in the aqueous phase produced a semiconducting bulk material with a thickness of several micrometers. Powder X-ray diffraction analysis revealed that the crystalline portion of the bulk material comprised a staggered stack of nanosheets. A single-layer nanosheet was successfully realized using a gas-liquid interfacial reaction. Atomic force microscopy and scanning tunneling microscopy confirmed that the π-conjugated nanosheet was single-layered. Modulation of the oxidation state of the nanosheet was possible using chemical redox reactions.

Synthetic two-dimensional polymers, or bottom-up nanosheets, are ultrathin polymeric frameworks with in-plane periodicity. They can be synthesized in a direct, bottom-up fashion using atomic, ionic, or molecular components. However, few are based on carbon-carbon bond formation, which means that there is a potential new field of investigation into these fundamentally important chemical bonds. Here, we describe the bottom-up synthesis of all-carbon, π-conjugated graphdiyne nanosheets. A liquid/liquid interfacial protocol involves layering a dichloromethane solution of hexaethynylbenzene on an aqueous layer containing a copper catalyst at room temperature. A multilayer graphdiyne (thickness, 24 nm; domain size, >25 μm) emerges through a successive alkyne-alkyne homocoupling reaction at the interface. A gas/liquid interfacial synthesis is more successful. Sprinkling a very small amount of hexaethynylbenzene in a mixture of dichloromethane and toluene onto the surface of the aqueous phase at room temperature generated single-crystalline graphdiyne nanosheets, which feature regular hexagonal domains, a lower degree of oxygenation, and uniform thickness (3.0 nm) and lateral size (1.5 μm).

Series of polyelectrolyte−surfactant complexes, DNA−cationic surfactant complexes (cetyltrimethylammonium, cetylpyridinium, and cetylbenzyldimethylammonium), and their self-assembled bulk film materials were prepared on a large scale. Circular dichroism (CD) analysis indicated that the right-handed double helix structure of DNA was retained in these bulk film materials. TGA analysis suggested that 4 molecules of water were required to retain the B-type conformation of the DNA helix in the self-assembled bulk film materials. In addition, it revealed that DNA and the DNA−surfactant complex film materials were thermostable up to as high as 180 °C. Thermodynamical analysis indicated that these film materials were thermo-extensive over a temperature range from 100 to 148 °C. The DNA conformation in the supramolecular complex films can be reversibly tuned by changing the environmental humidity. Film formation was found to occur by self-assembly and self-organization with evaporation of solvent molecules. Various functional dyes such as laser dye, NLO dye, and photochromic dye could easily be incorporated in the self-assembled supramolecular complex films as adducts. Studies of the induced CD spectra demonstrated that 4[4-(dimethylamino)styryl]-1-dococylpyridinium (DMASDPB) could orient on the chiral nanotemplates of DNA in the self-assembled films. UV−vis analysis indicated that these film materials have high transparency from 300 to about 1000 nm. These self-assembled functional-dye-containing DNA−surfactant complex materials, with good processability for multilayer integration into large-area devices, will have promising applications in molecular optical and molecular optoelectronic fields.

Structural changes in the orthorhombic-to-hexagonal phase transition of polyethylene crystal has been investigated by measuring the differential scanning calorimetry, X-ray diffraction, and infrared and Raman spectra for the geometrically-constrained ultradrawn samples in the course of heating up to the melting temperature. The infrared and Raman spectral patterns characteristic of the hexagonal phase have been confirmed. In particular, the bands characteristic of the disordered short trans segments (shorter than five CH2 units) and the bands of the kink or double gauche linkages have been detected definitely. The degree of orientation of the averaged chain axis, as detected from the temperature dependence of the X-ray fiber diagram, was reserved well enough even in the hexagonal phase, while the orientational degree of the methylene units, as detected from the polarized infrared spectral measurement, was found to be lowered appreciably. This finding, combined with the observation of the trans and gauche bands, has confirmed experimentally and definitely the existence of the conformationally disordered chains in the hexagonal phase.

The metallically conductive bis(diimino)nickel framework (NiDI), an emerging class of metal-organic framework (MOF) analogues consisting of two-dimensional (2D) coordination networks, was found to have an energy storage principle that uses both cation and anion insertion. This principle gives high energy led by a multielectron transfer reaction: Its specific capacity is one of the highest among MOF-based cathode materials in rechargeable energy storage devices, with stable cycling performance up to 300 cycles. This mechanism was studied by a wide spectrum of electrochemical techniques combined with density-functional calculations. This work shows that a rationally designed material system of conductive 2D coordination networks can be promising electrode materials for many types of energy devices.

Rational molecular design and processing, enabling large-area molecular ordering, are important for creating high-performance organic materials and devices. We show that, upon one-step hot-pressing with uniaxially stretched Teflon sheets, a polymer brush carrying azobenzene-containing mesogenic side chains self-assembles into a freestanding film, where the polymer backbone aligns homeotropically to the film plane and the side chains align horizontally. Such an ordered structure forms through translation of a one-dimensional molecular order of the Teflon sheet and propagates from the interface macroscopically on both sides of the film. The resultant wide-area bimorph configuration allows the polymer film to bend rapidly and reversibly when the azobenzene units are photoisomerized. The combination of polymer brushes with hot-pressing and Teflon sheets provides many possibilities in designing functional soft materials.

The effect of surface molecular motion on the wetting behavior of water on the thin film surfaces of poly(fluoroalkyl methacrylate)s with various fluoroalkyl (R f ) groups [PFMA-C y ; y: fluoromethylene number in R f groups, y = 1, 2, 4, 6, and 8] was characterized. The receding contact angle of PFMA-C y with short R f groups (y = 1, 2, 4, and 6) was larger than that of poly(fluoroalkyl acrylate) with short R f groups [PFA-C y , y e 6]. This stable hydrophobicity observed for PFMA-C y is due to the restriction of thermal molecular motion by the R-methyl group. Wide-angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD) and grazing incidence WAXD measurements revealed that the R f groups [PFMA-C y , y e 6] were not crystallized. PFMA-C 8 showed high advancing and receding contact angles due to the crystallization of fluoroalkyl groups at the surface region. The hydrophobicity of PFMA-C 8 was improved after annealing due to the ordering of fluoroalkyl groups.

For tailoring solution-processable optoelectronic thin films, a rational strategy with amphiphilic molecular design is proposed. A donor-acceptor dyad consisting of an oligothiophene and C60, when modified with a hydrophilic wedge on one side and a paraffinic wedge on the other (1Amphi), forms over a wide temperature range a photoconducting smectic A liquid crystal having bicontinuous arrays of densely packed donor and acceptor units. In contrast, when modified with only paraffinic wedges (1Lipo), the dyad forms a smectic A liquid crystalline mesophase, which however is poorly conductive. As indicated by an absorption spectral feature along with a synchrotron radiation small-angle X-ray scattering profile, 1Lipo in the lamellar structure does not adopt a uniform head/tail orientation. Such defective donor and acceptor arrays likely contain a large number of trapping sites, leading to short-lived charge carriers, as observed by a flash photolysis time-resolved microwave conductivity study.