title: Anisotropic Self-Assembly of Supramolecular Polymers and Plasmonic Nanoparticles at the Liquid-Liquid Interface.
abstract: The study of supramolecular polymers in the bulk, in diluted solution, and at the solid-liquid interface has recently become a major topic of interest, going from fundamental aspects to applications in materials science. However, examples of supramolecular polymers at the liquid-liquid interface are mostly unexplored. Here, we describe the supramolecular polymerization of triarylamine molecules and their light-triggered organization at a chloroform-water interface. The resulting interfacial nematic layer of these 1D supramolecular polymers is further used as a template for the precise alignment of spherical gold nanoparticles coming from the water phase. These hybrid thin films are spontaneously formed in a single process, without chemical prefunctionalization of the metallic nanoparticles, and their ordering is improved by centrifugation. The resulting polymer chains and strings of nanoparticles can be co-aligned with high anisotropy over very large distances. By using a combination of experimental and theoretical investigations, we decipher the full sequence of this oriented self-assembly process. In such a highly anisotropic configuration, electron energy loss spectroscopy reveals that the self-assembled nanoparticles behave as plasmonic waveguides.
authors.affiliation: SAMS Research Group, Institut Charles Sadron, University of Strasbourg-CNRS , 23 rue du Loess, BP 84047, 67034 Cedex 2 Strasbourg, France.
authors.forename: Joseph J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Armao Iv
authors.affiliation: Institut Charles Sadron-CNRS , 23 rue du Loess, BP 84047, 67034 Cedex 2 Strasbourg, France.
authors.forename: Irina
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Nyrkova
authors.affiliation: SAMS Research Group, Institut Charles Sadron, University of Strasbourg-CNRS , 23 rue du Loess, BP 84047, 67034 Cedex 2 Strasbourg, France.
authors.forename: Gad
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Fuks
authors.affiliation: SAMS Research Group, Institut Charles Sadron, University of Strasbourg-CNRS , 23 rue du Loess, BP 84047, 67034 Cedex 2 Strasbourg, France.
authors.forename: Artem
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Osypenko
authors.affiliation: SAMS Research Group, Institut Charles Sadron, University of Strasbourg-CNRS , 23 rue du Loess, BP 84047, 67034 Cedex 2 Strasbourg, France.
authors.forename: Mounir
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Maaloum
authors.affiliation: SAMS Research Group, Institut Charles Sadron, University of Strasbourg-CNRS , 23 rue du Loess, BP 84047, 67034 Cedex 2 Strasbourg, France.
authors.forename: Emilie
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Moulin
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio de Microscopias Avanzadas (LMA), Instituto de Nanociencia de Aragon (INA) , U. Zaragoza, 50018 Zaragoza, Spain.|Fundacion ARAID , 50018 Zaragoza, Spain.
authors.forename: Raul
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-2071-9093
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Arenal
authors.affiliation: SAMS Research Group, Institut Charles Sadron, University of Strasbourg-CNRS , 23 rue du Loess, BP 84047, 67034 Cedex 2 Strasbourg, France.
authors.forename: Odile
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Gavat
authors.affiliation: Institut Charles Sadron-CNRS , 23 rue du Loess, BP 84047, 67034 Cedex 2 Strasbourg, France.
authors.forename: Alexander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Semenov
authors.affiliation: SAMS Research Group, Institut Charles Sadron, University of Strasbourg-CNRS , 23 rue du Loess, BP 84047, 67034 Cedex 2 Strasbourg, France.
authors.forename: Nicolas
authors.identifier: 0000-0003-4093-3000
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Giuseppone