Crystallization-Driven Co-self-seeding Strategy Toward Controlled Preparation of Heterojunction Nanofibers

Abstract

This work develops a crystallization-driven co-self-seeding strategy, including mixed-seed and co-seed co-self-seeding approaches, to generate heterojunction nanofibers containing a heterogeneous BT-OPE7-BT/OPE9 (OPE = oligo(p-phenyleneethynylene), BT = benzothiadiazole) core with controllable length and spatial distribution of BT-OPE7-BT and OPE9 units. The resulting BT-OPE7-BT/OPE9-based heterojunction nanofibers exhibit higher photocatalytic activity of selective oxidation of sulfide than the counterparts of BT-OPE7-BT- and OPE9-based nanofibers, likely owing to more efficient charge separation/transition promoted by heterojunction structure. This work provides a robust platform toward precision preparation of diverse organic heterojunction nanostructures with varying structures/functionalities.