Manipulation Of Fullerene Self-assembly Superstructures And Its Application

Fullerenes are rigid cages with?-conjugated structures,which have also sprung up in manyapplication fields due to their unique properties.Fullerene molecules can also self-assemble into various morphologies by intermolecular interaction forces.These self-assembled structures of fullerene materials demostrate practical application in many fields.However,the preparation methods driven by solvents are always difficult to control the aggregation rate and lead to the limitation on the regulation of fullerene aggregates at the nano/microscopic scale dimension,which thus greatly affect the application properties of fullerenes superstructures.This topic is aimed at the regulating fullerene superstructures at molecular scale based on solvent-driven processes.And developing functionalized fullerene self-assembly structures for the applications in optoelectronics and energy fields.The main research contents are as follows:1.Manipulating the structural transformation of fullerene aggregates from microtubes to microhorns via heterogeneous distribution of fullereneIn order to monitor the morphological transformation of fullerene aggregates,we constructed fullerene microtubes(FMTs)using C₇₀ molecules,and then prepared fullerene microhorns(FMHs)based on these microtubes.First,we mixed C₆₀ and C₇₀ molecules to obtain fullerene microtubes with non-homogeneous distribution of C₆₀ and C₇₀.C₇₀molecules firstly precipitated and aggregated in the middle part of the microtubes because of poorer solubility in tert-butanol solvent.Subsequently,these FMTs is selectively dissolved the middle parts which containing more C₇₀ molecules.In this process,we successfully achieved the unique morphology transformation from fullerene microtubes to fullerene microhorns.It provides important new insights into the manipulation of fullerene assembled structures and the understanding of the growth mechanism of fullerene nanocrystals.2.Manipulation of fullerene superstructures by complexing with polycyclic aromatic compounds.Polycyclic aromatic compounds have been intercalated into the superstructures of fullerene nanowhiskers,using the LLIP method.Due to the interaction between polycyclic molecules and fullerene,the growth of fullerene crystals was interfered in comparison to the fullerene crystal growth without the polycyclic molecules,resulting in the formation of fullerene superstructures with various nanofeatures.At the same time,the size of the molecules of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons is directly related molecular arrangement,the larger the size the more irregular.Moreover,the fluorescence emissions of the fullerene superstructures were significantly changed due to the intercalation of the polycyclic molecules,implying the influence of molecular packing on the electron transfer within the nanostructures.These results may bring new insights into the control of fullerene nanostructures and manipulation their optical properties in optoelectronic devices.3.Manipulation of fullerene superstructures by grafting pentacene adducts and its varied application performanceThe C₆₀-pentacene adduct was applied to study the control of fullerene superstructures from the effect of surface grafting?-molecular.The C₆₀-pentacene can be assembled into flower-like microspheres based on the solvent process.It was found that the nanofeatures of the microflowers could be regulated by temperature,which showed dense flakes morphology at high temperature and loose flakes at low temperature.These two microflower structures have different properties on hydrophobic properties and photodetectors.These results demonstrate the effect of the fullerenes adducts superstructures morphologies on devices performance and promising their potential application on waterproof coatings or photodetectors.4.Quasi 2D mesoporous carbon microbelts derived from fullerene crystals as an electrode material for electrochemical supercapacitorsFullerene C₆₀microbelts were fabricated using the LLIP method and converted into quasi 2D mesoporous carbon microbelts by heat treatment at elevated temperatures of 900and 2000°C which retaining the macroscopic morphologywhile the internal microstructure is completely changed.The carbon microbelts obtained by heat treatment of fullerene C₆₀microbelts at 900°C show excellent electrochemical supercapacitive performance because of the enhanced surface area and the robust mesoporous framework structure.These results demonstrate that the quasi 2D mesoporous carbon microbelts derived from a?-electron-rich carbon source,fullerene C₆₀ crystals,could be used as a new candidate material for electrochemical supercapacitor applications.5.The synthesis of solvated one-dimensional fullerene superstructures and their effects on the photodetectors performanceOne dimension fullerene microtubes were prepared based on LLIP process.Through selectively removing or partially removing the solvent moleculars involving in the fullerene microtubes.We achieved one dimensional fullerene superstructure with different optoelectronic performacne.The solvent-removed one-dimensional fullerene structures exhibit higher current response,while the solvent-containing structures have faster photoelectric response and higher on/off ratio.These results indicate that solvent plays an important role in the photoelectric response,which provide new insight on the design of fullerenes for photovoltatic application.