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Light-induced Ostwald ripening of organic nanodots to rods
Sankarapillai Mahesh1, Anesh Gopal, Rajasekaran Thirumalai
1Photosciences and Photonics Group, Chemical Sciences and Technology Division, National Institute for Interdisciplinary Science and Technology, CSIR, Trivandrum-695019, India.
Abstract:
Ostwald ripening allows the synthesis of 1D nanorods of metal and semiconductor nanoparticles. However, this phenomenon is unsuccessful with organic π-systems due to their spontaneous self-assembly to elongated fibers or tapes. Here we demonstrate the uses of light as a versatile tool to control the ripening of amorphous organic nanodots (ca. 15 nm) of an azobenzene-derived molecular assembly to micrometer-sized supramolecular rods. A surface-confined dipole variation associated with a low-yield (13-14%) trans-cis isomerization of the azobenzene moiety and the consequent dipole-dipole interaction in a nonpolar solvent is believed to be the driving force for the ripening of the nanodots to rods.
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