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Type: 
Journal
Description: 
The use of solvent‐vapor annealing (SVA) to form millimeter‐long crystalline fibers, having a sub‐micrometer cross section, on various solid substrates is described. Thin films of a perylene‐bis(dicarboximide) (PDI) derivative, with branched alkyl chains, prepared from solution exhibit hundreds of nanometer‐sized PDI needles. Upon exposure to the vapors of a chosen solvent, tetrahydrofuran (THF), the needles re‐organize into long fibers that have a remarkably high aspect ratio, exceeding 103. Time‐ and space‐resolved mapping with optical microscopy allows the self‐assembly mechanism to be unravelled; the mechanism is found to be a nucleation‐governed growth, which complies with an Avrami‐type of mechanism. SVA is found to lead to self‐assembly featuring i) long‐range order (up to the millimeter scale), ii) reversible characteristics, as demonstrated through a series of assembly and disassembly …
Publisher: 
WILEY‐VCH Verlag
Publication date: 
17 Dec 2007
Authors: 

Giovanna De Luca, Andrea Liscio, Piera Maccagnani, Fabian Nolde, Vincenzo Palermo, Klaus Muellen, Paolo Samori

Biblio References: 
Volume: 17 Issue: 18 Pages: 3791-3798
Origin: 
Advanced Functional Materials