Preparing Semiconducting Nanoribbons with Tunable Length and Width via Crystallization-Driven Self-Assembly of a Simple Conjugated Homopolymer

Precise control of width and length of one-dimensional (1D) semiconducting
nanostructures has attracted much attention owing to its potential
for optoelectronic applications. However, regulating both their length
and width using conjugated polymers or even block copolymers is a
huge challenge. To solve this problem, we synthesized a unique conjugated
polyacetylene homopolymer by living cyclopolymerization, which spontaneously
formed 1D nanoribbons via in situ nanoparticlization.
Interestingly, their widths could be controlled from 8 to 41 nm, which
were directly proportional to their degree of polymerization. Furthermore,
a self-seeding technique via crystallization-driven self-assembly
(CDSA) was used to control the length of the nanoribbons up to 5.2
μm with narrow distributions less than 1.1. Interestingly, adding
a block copolymer unimer to these nanoribbons produced triblock comicelles
by the living CDSA mechanism. Finally, these nanoribbons were visualized
directly by super-resolution optical fluorescence microscopy. Now,
one can modulate both length and width of 1D nanoribbons simultaneously.