Chiroselective Assembly of a Chiral Porphyrin−Fullerene Dyad: Photoconductive Nanofiber with a Top-Class Ambipolar Charge-Carrier Mobility

• Published in: Journal of the American Chemical Society Vol. 132; no. 19; pp. 6628 - 6629
• Main Authors: Hizume, Yumi, Tashiro, Kentaro, Charvet, Richard, Yamamoto, Yohei, Saeki, Akinori, Seki, Shu, Aida, Takuzo
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States American Chemical Society 19-05-2010
• ISSN: 0002-7863; 1520-5126
• DOI: 10.1021/ja1014713

Upon slow admission of MeOH, the enantiomerically pure form of chiral amphiphilic porphyrin−fullerene dyad 1 in CH2Cl2 self-assembles at 25 °C into nanofibers with a built-in donor/acceptor heterojunction, while its racemic form, under identical conditions, self-assembles into submicrometer-sized spheres with a donor/acceptor arrangement essentially different from that in the nanofiber assembly. Although a cast film of the latter hardly shows a photoconducting profile on micrometer-gap electrodes, the former sample clearly displays photoconduction with an ambipolar charge-transporting character. The electron and hole mobilities under zero electric field, as estimated from time-of-flight profiles, are 0.14 and 0.10 cm2 V−1 s−1, respectively, which are comparable to or even better than those reported for top-class organic materials with a donor/acceptor heterojunction.