Self-assembly of sodium 4-(4,5-diphenyl-1H-imidazol-2-yl)benzoate into ultralong microbelts

Abstract

In this study, a self-assembly technique is developed to fabricate ultralong microbelts of sodium 4-(4,5-diphenyl-1H-imidazol-2-yl)benzoate (SDB). The as-prepared SDB microbelts have a belt-like structure with a rectangular cross section. All of the obtained microbelts under the optimum conditions have a relatively uniform size of about 5 μm in width, 2 μm in thickness, and approximately 5 mm in length. Particularly, the length of the SDB microbelts can be readily controlled by adjusting the SDB concentration as well as the aging temperature. In addition, the optical and electrical properties of the as-prepared microbelts are also investigated. These results should be significant in triarylimidazole derivatives crystallization and their potential application in optoelectronic devices.