The effect of anions on the self-assmbly of perylene bisimide diimidazolium salts

What is it about?

We prepared perylene bisimide functionalised diimidazolium salts bearing different anions and studied how this structural variation affects the stability and morphology of the resulting aggregates.

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Why is it important?

In this work we demonstrated how changing the anion in PBI-based diimidazolium salts is a straightforward way to affect the propetries of the relevant aggregates in terms of morphology and stability. In particular, the stability of the aggregates can be enhanced by using anions with a stronger hydrogen bond accepting ability. Moreover, changing the anion from tetrafloroborate to bistriflimide induces a remarkable morphological change from elongated objects to flatter structures. Notably, irrespective of the anion, all salts retain their semiconductor characteristics.