N-doping of perylene diimides (PDIs) to create stable radical anions is significant for harvesting photothermal energy due to their intensive absorption in the near-infrared (NIR) region and non-fluorescence. In this work, a facile and straightforward method has been developed to control the doping of perylene diimide to create radical anions using organic polymer polyethyleneimine (PEI) as a dopant. It was demonstrated that PEI is an effective polymer-reducing agent for the n-doping of PDI toward the controllable generation of radical anions. In addition to the doping process, PEI could suppress the self-assembly aggregation and improve the stability of PDI radical anions. Tunable NIR photothermal conversion efficiency (maximum 47.9%) was also obtained from the radical-anion-rich PDI-PEI composites. This research provides a new strategy to tune the doping level of unsubstituted semiconductor molecules for varying yields of radical anions, suppressing aggregation, improving stability, and obtaining the highest radical anion-based performance.
CITATION STYLE
Che, C., Tong, S., Jia, Y., Yang, J., He, X., Han, S., … Ma, Y. (2023). Chemical doping of unsubstituted perylene diimide to create radical anions with enhanced stability and tunable photothermal conversion efficiency. Frontiers in Chemistry, 11. https://doi.org/10.3389/fchem.2023.1187378
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