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Atom Transfer Radical Polymerization of Functionalized Vinyl Monomers Using Perylene as a Visible Light Photocatalyst
Published on: April 22, 2016
Chemical doping of unsubstituted perylene diimide to create radical anions with enhanced stability and tunable
Canyan Che1, Shaohua Tong1, Yanhua Jia1
1State Key Laboratory of Luminescent Materials and Devices, Institute of Polymer Optoelectronic Materials and Devices, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, China.
Abstract:
N-doping of perylene diimides (PDIs) to create stable radical anions is significant for harvesting photothermal energy due to their intensive absorption in the near-infrared (NIR) region and non-fluorescence. In this work, a facile and straightforward method has been developed to control the doping of perylene diimide to create radical anions using organic polymer polyethyleneimine (PEI) as a dopant. It was demonstrated that PEI is an effective polymer-reducing agent for the n-doping of PDI toward the controllable generation of radical anions. In addition to the doping process, PEI could suppress the self-assembly aggregation and improve the stability of PDI radical anions. Tunable NIR photothermal conversion efficiency (maximum 47.9%) was also obtained from the radical-anion-rich PDI-PEI composites. This research provides a new strategy to tune the doping level of unsubstituted semiconductor molecules for varying yields of radical anions, suppressing aggregation, improving stability, and obtaining the highest radical anion-based performance.
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