We establish the requisite design criteria to realize a single helical screw preference for semiconducting polymers that single-chain wrap single-walled carbon nanotube (SWNT) surfaces. We show that aryleneethynylene polymers that feature a 2,2'-(1,3-benzyloxy)-bridged(b)-1,1'-bi-2-naphthol unit facilitate extensive van der Waals contact of the naphthyl moieities with the nanotube surface, and guarantee a helically wrapped polymer-nanotube superstructures of fixed helical chirality. Molecular dynamics simulations provide an integrated picture tying together the global helical superstructure and conformational properties of the binaphthyl units. We demonstrate that polyanionic [arylene]ethynylene polymers designed to wrap SWNTs with a fixed helical screw axis, used in combination with ionic self assembly approaches and nanotubes enriched in the (6,5) chirality, enable for the first time the production of functionalized SWNTs that are fully soluble in organic solvents and capable of assembly into complex hierarchical structures that feature aligned nanotubes that maintain the optoelectronic properties characteristic of individualized SWNTs.

Single-handed helical wrapping of single-walled carbon nanotubes by chiral, ionic, semiconducting polymers: New opportunities for the design of electro-optically functional nanoscopic materials

247th National Meeting (2014)

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