Self-assembly and optical properties of N N′-bis(4-(1-benzylpiperidine))perylene-3,4,9,10-tetracarboxylic diimide

Well-defined nanobelts with strong fluorescence were fabricated from a perylene tetracarboxylic diimide molecule modified with specific side-chain substitution. The new perylene diimide was characterised by ¹H, ¹³C NMR, mass and IR spectral techniques. The photophysical and electrochemical properties were investigated by UV–vis absorption, fluorescence, differential scanning calorimetry and cyclic voltammetry. 1D nanobelt self-assembly of the compound was studied with optical, fluorescence and scanning electron microscopic techniques. The observed self-assembly was supported by computational studies using density functional theory and natural bond order analysis. The optimised molecule was fit into crystal space theoretically, and the observed band gap was correlated well with optical and electrical properties.