Fabrication of Semiconducting Nanoribbons with Tunable Length and Width via Crystallization-Driven Self-Assembly of a Homopolymer Prepared by Cyclopolymerization Using Grubbs Catalyst

Precise control of the width and length of one-dimensional (1D) semiconducting nanostructures is a topic of attention owing to the potential applications of such nanostructures in optoelectronics. However, regulating both the length and width of the 1D nanostructures using conjugated polymers or block copolymers is a significant challenge. To solve this problem, we synthesized a unique conjugated polyacetylene homopolymer via living cyclopolymerization, which spontaneously formed 1D nanoribbons via in situ nanoparticlization. Interestingly, their widths could be controlled from 11 to 42 nm, which is directly proportional to their degree of polymerization. Furthermore, a self-seeding technique via crystallization-driven self-assembly (CDSA) was adopted to control the length of the nanoribbons up to 2.3 μm with narrow distributions. Interestingly, adding a block copolymer unimer to these nanoribbons produced triblock comicelles by the living CDSA mechanism. The nanoribbons were visualized directly by super-resolution optical fluorescence microscopy. The proposed approach allows us to tune the length and width of 1D nanoribbons up to a certain degree.