Conducting nanofibers and organogels derived from the self-assembly of tetrathiafulvalene-appended dipeptides

Nalluri, Siva Krishna Mohan and Shivarova, Nadezhda and Kanibolotsky, Alexander L. and Zelzer, Mischa and Gupta, Swati and Frederix, Pim and Skabara, Peter J. and Gleskova, Helena and Ulijn, Rein V. (2014) Conducting nanofibers and organogels derived from the self-assembly of tetrathiafulvalene-appended dipeptides. Langmuir, 30 (41). pp. 12429-12437. ISSN 0743-7463 (https://doi.org/10.1021/la503459y)

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Abstract

In this article, we demonstrate the non-aqueous self-assembly of a low-molecular-mass organic gelator based on an electroactive p-type tetrathiafulvalene (TTF)-dipeptide bioconjugate. We show that a TTF moiety appended with diphenylalanine amide derivative (TTF-FF-NH2) self-assembles into one-dimensional nanofibers that further lead to the formation of self-supporting organogels in chloroform and ethyl acetate. Upon doping of the gels with electron acceptors (TCNQ/iodine vapor), stable two-component charge transfer gels are produced in chloroform and ethyl acetate. These gels are characterized by various spectroscopy (UV-vis-NIR, FTIR and CD), microscopy (AFM and TEM), rheology and cyclic voltammetry techniques. Furthermore, conductivity measurements performed on TTF-FF-NH2 xerogel nanofiber networks formed between gold electrodes on a glass surface indicate that these nanofibers show a remarkable enhancement in the conductivity after doping with TCNQ.

ORCID iDs

Nalluri, Siva Krishna Mohan, Shivarova, Nadezhda, Kanibolotsky, Alexander L. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3991-6297, Zelzer, Mischa, Gupta, Swati, Frederix, Pim, Skabara, Peter J., Gleskova, Helena ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7195-9639 and Ulijn, Rein V. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7974-3779;
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