Self-organizing surface-initiated polymerization of perylenediimides on indium tin oxidesElectronic supplementary information (ESI) available: Detailed experimental procedures. See DOI: 10.1039/c2sc01047j

In this study, we demonstrate, for the first time, that SOSIP, self-organizing surface-initiated polymerization, a method introduced for facile access to complex surface architectures, is compatible with perylenediimides (PDIs), i.e. , established chromophores with very important properties. Highly ordered face-to-face -stacks are shown to coincide with a more than 100-fold increase of the activity of PDI photosystems, and with significant fill factors. This breakthrough with electron-transporting PDI stacks promises access to powerful combinations with hole-transporting channels. Perylenediimides (PDIs) are placed in photosystems made by SOSIP, a new, user-friendly route to oriented multicomponent architectures on solid surfaces.