Related Experiment Video
Updated: Apr 28, 2026
Self-assembling Morphologies Obtained from Helical Polycarbodiimide Copolymers and Their Triazole Derivatives
Published on: February 7, 2017
The morphology transformation from helical nanofiber to helical nanotube in a diarylethene self-assembly system
Yulong Duan1, Shihai Yan, Xinhong Zhou
1Qingdao Key Lab of Solar Energy Utilization and Energy Storage Technology, Qingdao Institute of Bioenergy and Bioprocess Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao, 266101, China. cuigl@qibebt.ac.cn yaols@qibebt.ac.cn.
Abstract:
A helical nanostructure can be obtained by self-assembly of a diarylethene derivative that bears two malononitrile substitutes in a tetrahydrofuran/water medium. It is revealed that the helical nanostructure changed from helical nanofiber to helical nanotube when the diarylethene monomer changed from the open-ring isomer to the closed-ring isomer upon irradiation with 365 nm ultraviolet light, meanwhile, the helix angle of the nanostructure changed from 50° ± 5° to 75° ± 5°. There is a great possibility that the helical nanofibers and helical nanotubes are assembled from dimers as base units based on theoretical calculation and experimental results.
