Search

Abstract: Two‐dimensional (2D) carbon nanomaterials possessing promising physical and chemical properties find applications in high‐performance energy storage devices and catalysts. However, large‐scale fabrication of 2D carbon nanostructures is based on a few specific carbon templates or precursors and poses a formidable challenge. Now a new bottom‐up method for carbon nanosheet fabrication using a newly designed anisotropic carbon nanoring molecule, CPPhen, is presented. CPPhen was self‐assembled at a dynamic air–water interface with a vortex motion to afford molecular nanosheets, which were then carbonized under inert gas flow. Their nanosheet morphologies were retained after carbonization, which has never been seen for low‐molecular weight compounds. Furthermore, adding pyridine as a nitrogen dopant in the self‐assembly step successfully afforded nitrogen‐doped carbon nanosheets containing mainly pyridinic nitrogen species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Important points for the fabrication of functional materials are the creation of nanoscale/molecular‐scale units and architecting them into functional materials and systems. Recently, a new conceptual paradigm, nanoarchitectonics, has been proposed to combine nanotechnology and other methodologies including supramolecular chemistry, self‐assembly and self‐organization to satisfy major features of nanoscience and promote the creation of functional materials and systems. In this account article, our recent research results in materials development based on the nanoarchitectonics concept are summarized in two stories, (i) nanoarchitectonics from fullerenes as the simplest nano‐units and (ii) dimension‐dependent nanoarchitectonics from various structural units. The former demonstrates creativity of the nanoarchitectonics concept only with simple construction stuffs on materials fabrications, and a wide range of material applicability for the nanoarchitectonics strategy is realized in the latter ones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highly-aligned fullerene nanowhiskers (C60 NWs) are prepared by a modified liquid–liquid interfacial precipitation method. Neural stem cells on the aligned C60 NWs are oriented and have a high capacity to differentiate into mature neurons. The aligned C60 NWs can serve as a functional scaffold for neural tissue engineering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Self-assembly has been recognised as a ubiquitous aspect of modern chemistry. Our understanding and applications of self-assembly are substantially based on what has been learned from biochemical systems. In this review, we describe various aspects of self-assembly commencing with an account of the soft structures that are available by assembly of surfactant amphiphiles, which are important scientific and industrial materials. Variation of molecular design using rules defined by surfactant self-assembly permits synthesis of functional nanostructures in solution and at surfaces while increasing the strength of intermolecular interactions through π-π stacking, metal cation coordination and/or hydrogen bonding leads to formation of highly complex bespoke nanostructured materials exemplified by DNA assemblies. We describe the origins of self-assembly involving aggregation of lipid amphiphiles and how this subject has been expanded to include other highly advanced chemical systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The strategic design of , the properties of which could be controlled across different length scales and which, at the same time, could be used as for the construction of devices and functional systems into new technological platforms that are based on sustainable processes, is an important issue in bottom-up nanotechnology.Such strategic design has enabled the fabrication of materials by using convergent bottom-up and top-down strategies. Recent developments in the assembly of functional fullerene (C60) molecules, either in bulk or at interfaces, have allowed the production of shape-controlled nano-to-microsized objects that possess excellent optoelectronic properties, thus enabling the fabrication of optoelectronic devices. Because fullerene molecules can be regarded as an ideal zero-dimensional (0D) building units with attractive functions, the construction of higher-dimensional objects, that is, 1D, 2D, and 3D nanomaterials may realize important aspects of nanoarchitectonics. This Focus Review summarizes the recent developments in the production of nanostructured fullerenes and techniques for the elaboration of fullerene nanomaterials into hierarchic structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Herein we report the surfactant-triggered assembly of fullerene(C60) into 3D flowerlike microcrystals at the liquid–liquidinterface. C60crystals were grown using a liquid–liquidinterfacial precipitation (LLIP) method by layering surfactant solutionin butanol with a saturated solution of C60in benzene.In the LLIP method, it is suggested that the crystal formation mechanismis driven by supersaturation related to the low C60solubilityin alcohol. We found that the dimensions of the synthesized C60flowers depend on the concentration and surfactant type.In the absence of surfactant (i.e., in the butanol/benzene system),1D C60nanowhiskers (nanorods) and C60nanotubes(diameter 400 nm–2 μm and length 5–20 μm)are obtained. However, when surfactants are incorporated into thesystem flowerlike microcrystals consisting of C60nanotubesare observed. For instance, crystals grown at the interface of a 0.01%diglycerol monolaurate (C12G2) nonionic surfactantin butanol with benzene lead to the formation of flower-shaped microcrystalsof average sizes in the range of 10–35 μm. To the bestof our knowledge, this is the first example of the surfactant-assistedassembly of C60crystals. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmissionelectron microscopy (TEM) measurements have shown that fullerene flowershave a hexagonal structure with cell dimensions of a= 2.539 nm and c= 1.021 nm, which differ fromthat of pristine C60. Mixtures of flower-shaped C60crystals and free-standing C60nanotubes are found inthe 0.1% C12G2/butanol system. However, clustersor giant aggregates of nanowhiskers lacking any specific shape areobserved in the 1% C12G2/butanol system althoughthese crystals exhibit hexagonal close-packed structures. Flower-shapedC60microcrystals are also observed with anionic surfactantscetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) and cetyltrimethylammonium chloride(CTAC). C60flowers obtained from 0.01% CTAB and 0.01%CTAC also exhibit hexagonal structures with cell dimensions of a= 2.329 nm and c= 1.273 nm, a= 2.459 nm and c= 0.938 nm, respectively.Our C60flowers exhibit intense photoluminescence (PL)and a blue-shifted PL intensity maximum compared to the same parametersfor pristine C60, demonstrating the potential to controlthe optoelectronic properties of fullerene-based nanostructures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In article number 1800254, Shan‐hui Hsu and co‐workers transfect human fibroblasts with the highly expressible bacteriorhodopsin (HEBR) plasmids and culture them on C60 fullerene self‐assembled two‐dimensional nanosheets for cell reprogramming and differentiation. Transfection of HEBR allows the cells to be regulated by light. The special photoelectric properties of both fullerenes and HEBR may combine to provide a platform for temporospatial regulation of human fibroblasts to become neural‐like cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Here we report the aromatic vapor sensing performance of bitter melon shaped nanoporous fullerene C60 crystals that are self-assembled at a liquid-liquid interface between isopropyl alcohol and C60 solution in dodecylbenzene at 25 °C. Average length and center diameter of the crystals were ca. 10 μm and ~2 μm, respectively. Powder X-ray diffraction pattern (pXRD) confirmed a face-centered cubic (fcc) structure with cell dimension ca. a = 1.4272 nm, and V = 2.907 nm3, which is similar to that of the pristine fullerene C60. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) confirmed the presence of a nanoporous structure. Quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) results showed that the bitter melon shaped nanoporous C60 performs as an excellent sensing system, particularly for aromatic vapors, due to their easy diffusion through the porous architecture and strong π–π interactions with the sp2-carbon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]