Controlling the crystalline three-dimensional order in bulk materials by single-wall carbon nanotubes

The construction of ordered single-wall carbon nanotube soft-materials at the nanoscale is currently an important challenge in science. Here we use single-wall carbon nanotubes as a tool to gain control over the crystalline ordering of three-dimensional bulk materials composed of suitably functionalized molecular building blocks. We prepare p -type nanofibres from tripeptide and pentapeptide-containing small molecules, which are covalently connected to both carboxylic and electron-donating 9,10-di(1,3-dithiol-2-ylidene)-9,10-dihydroanthracene termini. Adding small amounts of single-wall carbon nanotubes to the so-prepared p -nanofibres together with the externally controlled self assembly by charge screening by means of Ca 2+ results in new and stable single-wall carbon nanotube-based supramolecular gels featuring remarkably long-range internal order. The use of templates to achieve ordered material architectures over long length scales is challenging. Here, the authors use single-wall carbon nanotubes as scaffolds to macroscopically control the ordering of n / p three-dimensional supramolecularly assembled materials.