Tailoring Supramolecular Nanofibers for Air Filtration Applications.

The demand of new materials and processes for nanofiber fabrication to enhance the performance of air filters is steadily increasing. Typical approaches to obtain nanofibers are based on top-down processes such as melt blowing, centrifugal spinning, and electrospinning of polymer materials. However, fabrication of polymer nanofibers is limited with respect to either a sufficiently high throughput or the smallest achievable fiber diameter.

Controlling the π-stacking behavior of pyrene derivatives: influence of H-bonding and steric effects in different states of aggregation.

The performance of opto-electronic devices built from low-molecular-weight dye molecules depends crucially on the stacking properties and the resulting coupling of the chromophoric systems. Herein we investigate the influence of H-bonding amide and bulky substituents on the π-stacking of pyrene-containing small molecules in dilute solution, as supramolecular aggregates, and in the solid state. A set of four pyrene derivatives was synthesized in which benzene or 4-tert-butyl benzene was linked to the pyrene unit either through an ester or an amide.