Yes / FRET forms the basis for energy transfer in biological systems and organisms and it has become an investigative tool in the analysis of protein‐protein interactions and in the study of semiconductors (SC). Until now, FRET has been restricted to the simultaneous presence of both components in the same phase. Here, we report on the first successful prototype demonstrating interfacial FRET. This innovative FRET between inorganic SC‐nanoparticles and illuminating protein chimeras takes place across an oil/water interface. As a ′proof of concept′ oil droplets were stabilized by hydrophobin‐derivatives in aqueous solution. These proteins possess the ability to attach fused functional domains close to an interface. Moreover, an optically active nanostructure directly docks to the hydrophobin at the oil/water interface. Due to its modular design, this signal amplification array has the potential to be exploited in numerous fields ranging from biosensors, biotechnology to medical applications.

It’s becoming more and more difficult to make smaller, denser, and faster computer chips. There’s an increasing demand to design new materials to be applied in current lithographic process to get higher patterning performance. In this work, the aqueous developable single molecule resists were introduced, synthesized and patterned. A new group of epoxide other than glycidyl ether, cyclohexene oxide was introduced to functionalize a molecular core and 15 nm resolution was obtained. The directed self-assembly (DSA) of block copolymers as an alternative lithographic technique has received growing interest in the last several years for performing higher levels of pitch subdivision. A 3-step simplified process for DSA by using a photodefinable substrate was introduced by using a functionalized polyphenol with an energy switchable group and a crosslinkable group. Two high χ block copolymers PS-b-PAA and PS-b-PHEMA were successfully designed and synthesized via ATRP with controlled Mw and PDI. The size of the same PS-b-PAA polymer was tunable by varying the thermal annealing time. PS-b-PHEMA shows to be a suitable block polymer for the industry-friendly thermal annealing process. A self-complementary hydrogen-bonding urea group as a center group was used to facilitate the self-assembly of polymers. “Click” chemistry is promising for synthesis of PS-Urea-Urea-PMMA.

The rational design, synthesis, and characterization of several systems that undergo self-assembly are described. Systems were chosen based on their ability to self-assemble in a highly ordered and predictable fashion that imparts order on the structure such that it is able to perform a given device function. Herein we describe self-assembled multilayered thin films on gold that can behave as molecular wires with tunable length, photocurrent generating films, and surfaces with photoswitchable wettability, and self-assembling peptide nanotubes that can potentially function as long range energy and electron transfer conduits. A non-covalent, modular approach to multilayered thin film fabrication was used to generate three thin film systems that function as molecular scale wires, photocurrent generating devices, and photoswitchable thin films, respectively. These films were based on 4-[(10-mercaptodecyl)oxy]pyridine-2,6-dicarboxylic acid self-assembled monolayers on gold. These monolayers are able to chelate metal (II) ions, and thus multilayers were assembled based on metal-ligand coordination chemistry. The three systems described were characterized by contact angle measurements, electrochemical methods, and grazing angle IR spectroscopy. All three systems emphasize the versatility of a modular approach to thin film construction, and provide proof-of-concept for future studies. A cyclic octapeptide architecture was employed as a scaffold for the predictable self-assembly of photoactive groups within a nanotubular structure. The degree of cyclic peptide aggregation in stacking nanotube systems and non-stacking monomer systems, was studied via fluorescence emission spectroscopy. Based on the spectral results, it was determined that peptide nanotubes can be constructed such that photoactive side chains can be assembled in stacks. Future experiments for the determination of long range energy and/or charge transfer in these systems are also discussed.

In this work the first observation of new type of liquid crystals is presented. This is ionic self-assembly (ISA) liquid crystals formed by introduction of oppositely charged ions between different low molecular tectonic units. As practically all conventional liquid crystals consist of rigid core and alkyl chains the attention is focused to the simplest case where oppositely charged ions are placed between a rigid core and alkyl tails. The aim of this work is to investigate and understand liquid crystalline and alignment properties of these materials. It was found that ionic interactions within complexes play the main role. Presence of these interactions restricts transition to isotropic phase. In addition, these interactions hold the system (like network) allowing crystallization into a single domain from aligned LC state. Alignment of these simple ISA complexes was spontaneous on a glass substrate. <br><br> In order to show potentials for application perylenediimide and azobenzene containing ISA complexes have been investigated for correlations between phase behavior and their alignment properties. The best results of macroscopic alignment of perylenediimide-based ISA complexes have been obtained by zone-casting method. In the aligned films the columns of the complex align perpendicular to the phase-transition front. The obtained anisotropy (DR = 18) is thermally stable. The investigated photosensitive (azobenzene-based) ISA complexes show formation of columnar LC phases. It was demonstrated that photo alignment of such complexes was very effective (DR = 50 has been obtained). It was shown that photo-reorientation in the photosensitive ISA complexes is cooperative process. The size of domains has direct influence on efficiency of the photo-reorientation process. In the case of small domains the photo-alignment is the most effective. Under irradiation with linearly polarized light domains reorient in the plane of the film leading to macroscopic alignment of columns parallel to the light polarization and joining of small domains into big ones. <br><br> Finally, the additional distinguishable properties of the ISA liquid crystalline complexes should be noted: (I) the complexes do not solve in water but readily solve in organic solvents; (II) the complexes have good film-forming properties when cast or spin-coated from organic solvent; (III) alignment of the complexes depends on their structure and secondary interactions between tectonic units. / In dieser Arbeit wird erstmalig eine neue Klasse von Flüssigkristallen auf Basis ionischer Self-Assembly (ISA) Komplexe beschrieben. Während herkömmliche thermotrope Flüssigkristalle aus steifen, formanisotropen Molekülfragmenten und kovalent gebundenen Flügelgruppen (meist Alkylketten) bestehen, entstehen diese neuartigen supramolekularen Verbindungen durch die Komplexierung gegensätzlich geladener ionischer tektonischer Einheiten und Tenside. <br><br> Ziel der Arbeit war es, die flüssigkristallinen und insbesondere die Orientierungseigenschaften dieser neuen Materialien am Beispiel repräsentativer Modellverbindungen zu untersuchen. Es wurde nachgewiesen, dass die ionischen Wechselwirkungen die thermischen Eigenschaften der Verbindungen entscheidend beeinflussen. So behindern sie den Übergang in die isotrope Phase. Das System wird quasi durch ein Netzwerk ionischer Wechselwirkungen stabilisiert. Makroskopisch orientierte LC Zustände sind offensichtlich Ausgangspunkt für hochgeordnete flüssigkristalline Filme oder gar für die Kristallisation von Monodomänen. In speziellen Fällen erfolgt eine spontane Ausbildung von ISA Monodomänen bereits auf Glassubstraten. <br><br> Mit Hinblick auf potentielle Anwendungen wurden Perylendiimid und Azobenzen enthaltene ISA Komplexe insbesondere hinsichtlich von Zusammenhängen zwischen Phasenverhalten und Orientierungseigenschaften untersucht. Die zone-casting Methode erwies sich als besonders geeignet für die makroskopische Orientierung perylendiimidbasierter ISA Komplexe. In orientierten Filmen richten sich die Kolumnen des Komplexes senkrecht zur Phasenübergangsfront aus. Das dabei erreichte dichroitische Verhältnis (DR=18) ist thermisch stabil. Die untersuchten Azobenzen basierten ISA Komplexe weisen kolumnare LC Phasen auf. Durch Photoalignment mittels linear polarisierten Lichts werden Komplexe sehr effektiv senkrecht bzw. die Columnen der Komplexe parallel zur Polarisation des Lichtes orientiert, wobei sehr hohe DR bis zu 50 erreicht wurden. Weiterhin wurde gezeigt, dass die Photo-Reorientierung photosensitiver ISA Komplexe kooperativ erfolgt. Die Größe der Domänen hat dabei einen entscheidenden Einfluß auf die Effektivität des Photo-Reorientierungsprozesses. So ist der Prozess im Fall kleiner Domänen effektiver. Durch die Bestrahlung mit linear polarisiertem Licht werden die Domänen in der Filmebene reorientiert, was zu einer makroskopischen Ausrichtung der Kolumnen parallel zur Lichtpolarisation und zu einer Vereinigung kleiner Domänen führt.

Poly(N-isopropylacrylamide-co-acrylic acid) (pNIPAm-AAc) copolymeric multi-responsive microgels demonstrate responsivity to temperature, pH, and ionic strength. A temperature-programmed polymerization protocol is proposed for the synthesis of large pNIPAm-AAc microgel particles with a hydrodynamic diameter of 2~5 μm. Immediately after preparation of concentrated pNIPAm-AAc dispersions in closed system, the average hydrodynamic diameter is smaller than the unperturbed diameter probably due to osmotic de-swelling effect. During the aging process, pNIPAm-AAc microgel particles start to swell while their dynamics slow down. The snapshots of phase behavior of pNIPAm-AAc microgel dispersions at different pH values are illustrated. The formation of crystalline phase should follow a nonergodic path in which microgel particles swell to the extent that they build up weak attractive interaction to allow them to associate while maintaining the opportunity of rearrangement to minimize local Gibbs free energy. The age-dependent thermostability of pNIPAm-AAc microgel dispersions suggests strong attractive interactions evolve between particles during aging-convoluted crystallization. Finally, to introduce multiple biological "handle"s on the microgel particles for biomedical applications, the Cu(I)-catalyzed azide-terminal alkyne 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition, also called Sharpless-Meldal "click" reaction, is used to functionalize pNIPAm-AAc microgel particles.

Surface self-assembly, the spontaneous aggregation of molecules into ordered, sta- ble, noncovalently joined structures in the presence of a surface, is of great importance to the bottom-up manufacturing of materials with desired functionality. As a bulk phenomenon informed by molecular-level interactions, surface self-assembly involves coupled processes spanning multiple length scales. Consequently, a computational ap- proach towards investigating surface self-assembled systems requires a combination of quantum-level electronic structure calculations and large-scale multi-body classical simulations. In this work we use a range of simulation approaches from quantum-based methods, to classical atomistic calculations, to mean-field approximations of bulk mixed phases, and explore the self-assembly strategies of simple dipoles and polyaromatic hydrocarbons on symmetric surfaces. / Graduate

No description available.

This dissertation is about fabrication and functionalization of metal nanoparticles for use in plasmonic and nonlinear optical (NLO) applications. In the first two chapters, I describe a series of experiments, where I combined silver nanoparticles fabricated by nanosphere lithography with ionic self-assembled multilayer (ISAM) films, tuning the geometry of the particles to make their plasmonic resonances overlap with the frequency of optical excitation. The designed hybrid metallic/organic nanostructures exhibited large enhancements of the efficiency of second harmonic generation (SHG) compared to conventional ISAM films, causing a modified film with just 3 bilayers to be optically equivalent to a conventional 700-1000 bilayer film. SHG responses from Ag nanoparticle-decorated hybrid-covalent ISAM (HCISAM) films were investigated as the next logical step towards high-Ï ²⁺ ISAM films. I found that the plasmonic enhancement primarily stems from interface SHG. Interface effects were characterized by direct comparison of SHG signals from PAH/PCBS ISAM films and PAH/PB HCISAM films. Though interface &chi²⁺ is substantially smaller in PAH/PCBS than in PAH/PB, plasmonically enhanced PAH/PCBS films exhibit stronger NLO response. I propose that the structure of PAH/PB film makes its interface more susceptible to disruptions in the nanoparticle deposition process, which explains our observations. During the fabrication of monolayer crystals for nanosphere lithography, I developed a variation of the technique of convective self-assembly, where the drying meniscus is restricted by a straight-edge located approximately 100 μM above the substrate adjacent to the drying zone. This technique can yield colloidal crystals at roughly twice the growth rate compared to the standard technique. I attribute this to different evaporation rates in the thin wet films in the two cases. I also found that the crystal growth rate depends strongly on the ambient relative humidity. Finally, dithiocarbamate (DTC)-grafted polymers were synthesized and employed to functionalize surfaces of Au nanopartciles. PAH-DTC shows greater stability in different environments than PEI-DTC. I also investigated the stability of PAH-DTC coated particles in suspensions with UV-Vis spectroscopy and autotitration. The covalently bonded PAH-DTC enhances the colloidal stability of the Au nanoparticles and enables subsequent ISAM film deposition onto the particles. / Ph. D.

Self–assembly has long been attracting chemists’ attention because it can yield fascinating supramolecular architectures in a single step. More precisely, metal–ligand coordination–driven self–assembly has stood out as an efficient methodology in this paradigm due to simple design principle and high predictability of the final molecular architectures. Moreover, one can envisage hierarchical nanoscopic molecular architectures with a vast range of size, shape and functionality via this methodology. Two–component self–assembly (involving one type of donor and one type of acceptor) is relatively easy to monitor and a widely used protocol. Whereas, multicomponent self–assembly (involving more than one types of donors/or acceptors) is too complex due to the possibility of formation of several products. The prime advantage of multicomponent self–assembly lies in one–pot construction of topologically complicated multifunctional architectures. Template– induced multicomponent self–assembly of discrete architectures is recently investigated to some extent. But, template–free multicomponent self–assembly of discrete architectures is rare in the literature. Physico–chemical property of a self–assembled product is coded in the functional groups present in its precursor building units. Functional supramolecular architectures have important applications in many potential fields such as chemosensing, drug delivery, supramolecular catalysis, etc. Porphyrin, pyrazole, imidazole, etc. functionalized organic molecules are hydrophilic as well as hydrophobic in nature. Introduction of such functionality in building units can lead to amphiphilic supramolecular complexes. Therefore, such complexes can be employed as hosts for versatile guests, or as molecular reactors for various chemical reactions. In general, counter ions block the cavity of ionic molecular architectures. Thus, when ionic molecular architectures are employed as hosts, they cannot fully provide their cavity towards guest molecules. In contrast, neutral molecular complexes are expected to be better hosts. It is well known that alkenyl/alkynyl heavy metal complexes exhibit efficient chemoluminescence due to facile metal to ligand charge transfer (MLCT). Hence, such complexes can be employed as efficient chemosensors towards the detection of electron deficient molecules such as nitroaromatics which are the chemical signatures of many powerful explosives. In these regards, a considerable effort is being paid recently to design and construct various functional supramolecular architectures. Symmetry and rigidity of building units increase predictability of the final product in self– assembly. In this regard, symmetric; rigid Pd(II)/Pt(II)–based acceptors and polypyridyl donors are explored extensively in metal–ligand coordination–driven self–assembly. In contrast to rigidity, flexibility endows building units to adopt thermodynamically most stable conformer/architecture. Hence, same set of building units can render different conformers/architectures in presence of different templates for the sake of suitable host–guest interactions. Contrary to high symmetry, asymmetry in building units leads to molecular architectures with polar environments. But, due to the possibility of formation of several isomeric products from the self–assembly involving such building units, it is difficult to monitor the reaction and purify the products. Hence, designing appropriate synthetic routes which can lead to formation of single isomeric products possessing flexible/asymmetric building units is a challenge to synthetic chemists. Investigations incorporated in the present thesis are focused to design and construct various 2D/3D discrete supramolecular architectures employing self–assembly of mainly Pd(II)/Pt(II) acceptors with N/O donors. Elemental analyses, IR/NMR/UV–Vis/fluorescence/mass spectroscopy and single crystal X–ray diffraction analysis are among prime techniques employed for characterization of the reported architectures. For a few cases, powder X–ray diffraction (PXRD) analysis and density functional theory (DFT) calculations are also carried out. CHAPTER 1 of the thesis provides a brief general introduction to self–assembly and supramolecular chemistry. It emphasizes on the metal–ligand coordination–driven self–assembly approach towards the construction of a library of 2D/3D supramolecular architectures. CHAPTER 2 describes formation of a series of template–induced and template–free discrete 3D Pd(II) molecular prisms via multicomponent self–assembly. Because of the possibility of formation of several products, multicomponent self–assembly is difficult to monitor. For example, several molecular architectures are expected from a three–component self–assembly involving a 90° acceptor [ca. cis–blocked Pd(II)], a 120° tritopic donor [ca. benzene–1,3,5– tricaboxylate (tma)] and a 180° donor [ca. 4,4'–bipyridine (4,4'–bpy) or pyrazine (pz)]. Interestingly, treatment of cis–(tmen)Pd(NO3)2 [tmen = N,N,N′,N′–tetramethylethylenediamine] with 4,4'–bpy and K3tma in 6 : 3 : 2 molar ratio at room temperature resulted in mainly a nanoscopic molecular trigonal prism [{(tmen)Pd}6(bpy)3(tma)2](NO3)6 (1) with three 4,4'–bpy pillars, two tma caps and six cis–(tmen)Pd connectors (Scheme 1). Scheme 1: Schematic representation of the formation of multicomponent self–assembled molecular trigonal prisms 1, 2 and 3. Surprisingly, the same reaction in presence of benzene–1,3,5–tricaboxylic acid (H3tma) as guest yielded exclusively the guest–encapsulated analogous molecular prism [{(tmen)Pd}6(bpy)3(tma)2(H3tma)2](NO3)6 (2; Scheme 1). It is also presented how variation of steric crowding at connectors (acceptors) influenced final outcomes. Self–assembly of cis– (en)Pd(NO3)2 [en = ethylenediamine] with 4,4'–bpy and K3tma in 6 : 3 : 2 molar ratio at room temperature resulted in a triply interlocked nanoscopic 3D coordination cage [{(en)Pd}6(bpy)3(tma)2]2(NO3)12 (3; Scheme 1). It is also shown that above trend is followed even upon changing the pillar length from 4,4'–bpy to pz. Aromatic –stacking interactions amog tma caps as well as among 4,4'–bpy pillars provided considerable stability to interlocked archirecture 3. Steric crowding due to the methyl groups in cis–(tmen)Pd connectors hindered intercalation and hence led to non–interlocked architecture 1. As expected, similar self–assembly using moderately crowded acceptor cis–(pn)Pd(NO3)2 [pn = 1,2–diaminopropane] with same donors 4,4'–bpy and K3tma resulted in a mixture of analogous triply interlocked and non– interlocked architectures in solution though it was found to be only triply interlocked architecture in solid state. Interestingly, irrespective of the steric crowding of the blocking amines, self– assembly in presence of H3tma as guest preferred exclusive formation of guest–encapsulated prisms of type 2 (Scheme 1). This is due to considerable stabilazation via aromatic –stacking interactions amog tma caps and H3tma guests. Formation of guest–free discrete molecular prisms (such as 1) and triply interlocked coordination cages (such as 3) were confirmed by spectroscopic and single crystal X–ray diffraction analyses. Whereas, formation of guest– encapsulated discrete molecular prisms (such as 2) was established by DOSY, ROESY 2D NMR spectroscpic study in conjunction with energy optimized geometry analysis. CHAPTER 3 reports design and syntheses of a series of porphyrin functionalized nanoscopic 3D molecular open prisms. Self–assembly of a C4 –symmetric tetratopic donor with a 90° ditopic acceptor can, in principle, lead to several architectures such as trigonal; tetragonal; pentagonal; hexagonal; etc. open prisms, closed cube or 1D oligomers. Both of 1,5,10,15–tetrakis(4– 12 pyridyl)porphyrin (L) and 1,5,10,15–tetrakis(3–pyridyl)porphyrin (L) possess pseudo C4 – 1 symmetry. Surprisingly, treatment of Lwith the 90° ditopic acceptor cis–(dppf)Pt(OTf)2 [dppf = diphenylphosphinoferrocene, OTf = trifluoromethanesulphonate] yielded exclusively an 1 unprecedented [6 + 12] self–assembled hexagonal open prism [(dppf)12Pt12L6](OTf)24 (4; Scheme 2). Scheme 2: Schematic representation of formation of [6 + 12] self–assembled molecular hexagonal open prism 4 and its Zn(II) embedded complex 4a. 2 In contrast, [3 + 6] self–assembled trigonal open prisms are adopted upon self–assembly of Lwith Pd(II)–based 90° ditopic acceptors. These complexes show facile incorporation of Zn(II) ions into porphyrin N4 –pockets. Moreover, they incorporate high microporosity in solid state and they are amphiphilic in nature due to porphyrin functionality. One of the trigonal open prisms revealed its considerably high adsorbate–adsorbent affinity towards non–polar gas such as N2 and protic solvent vapors such as water, methanol and ethanol. Formation of hexagonal and trigonal open prisms is fully authenticated by spectroscopic and single crystal X–ray diffraction analyses. CHAPTER 4 describes design and synthesis of a pyrazole functionalized flexible donor (L) and its self–assembly towards the construction of three nanoscopic 3D supramolecular discrete cages 5–7 (Scheme 3). Scheme 3: Schematic representation of formation of [4 + 6] self–assembled molecular double–square 5 and [2 + 3] self–assembled molecular trigonal bipyramids 6–7. 3 Due to flexibility, Lcan adopt different conformations and hence several isomeric architectures 3 are expected upon self–assembly. For example, self–assembly of Lwith a rigid ditopic 90° acceptor can lead to trigonal bipyramid (TBP), double–square, adamantanoid or truncated 3 tetrahedron. Treatment of Lwith cis–(tmen)Pd(NO3)2 yielded a [4 + 6] self–assembled double–3 square [(tmen)6Pd6L4](NO3)12 (5; Scheme 3). Much to our surprise, replacement of cis– (tmen)Pd(NO3)2 with CuCl2 or AgOTf yielded [2 + 3] self–assembled molecular TBP 33 [Cu3Cl6L2] (6) or [Ag3L2](OTf)3 (7), respectively (Scheme 3). CHAPTER 5 presents study of self–assembly involving flexible asymmetric donors and rigid 4 symmetric 90° acceptors. Three ambidentate donors 5–pyrimidinecarboxylate (L), nicotinate–56 N–oxide (L) and isonicotinate–N–oxide (L) were employed in self–assembly with symmetric rigid 90° acceptors cis–(dppf)M(OTf)2 [M = Pd(II)/Pt(II)]. Due to flexibility and different 464 connectivity of these donors L–L, several linkage isomers are expected. Treatment of Lwith cis–(dppf)M(OTf)2 in 1 : 1 molar ratio resulted in exclusive formation of single linkage isomeric 4 [3 + 3] self–assembled symmetric molecular triangles [(dppf)3M3L3](OTf)3 (8: M = Pd and 9: M = Pt), where the donors connected to metal centers in head–to–tailfashion (Scheme 4). Similar 56 reactions of Land Lwith cis–(dppf)M(OTf)2 resulted in self–sorting of [2 + 2] self–assembled molecular rhomboids 10–13 (Scheme 4). Exclusive self–selection of single linkage isomeric architectures 8, 9, 10 and 12 was fully established by spectroscopic as well as single crystal X– ray diffraction analyses. Though we could not obtain suitable X–ray diffraction quality single crystals of 11 and 13, exclusive formation of single isomeric [2 + 2] self–assembled rhomboids 131 was established by multinuclear NMR (H and P) in conjunction with ESI–MS spectroscopic studies. Scheme 4: Schematic representation of formation of complexes 8–13. Part A of the CHAPTER 6 describes how two neutral organometallic mononuclear chelates are formed upon treatment of disodium fumarate (,–unsaturated dicarboxylate) with cis– (dppf)Pd/Pt(OTf)2 at ambient conditions. Reaction of 90acceptors cis–(dppf)Pd/Pt(OTf)2 with fumarate is expected to result in [4 + 4] self–sorted molecular squares/or [2 + 2] self–sorted molecular rhomboids (Scheme 5). To our surprise, the above reactions led to an unusual reduction of C–C double bond followed by concomitant formation of mononuclear chelates [M(dppf)(C4H4O4)] (M = Pd for 14 and Pt for 15) via coordination with one of the carboxylate oxygen atoms and –carbon to metal centers (Scheme 5). Scheme 5: Schematic representation of formation of the complexes 14–15. Part B of the CHAPTER 6 describes design and synthesis of a novel shape selective “clip” 1 shaped bimetallic Pd(II) acceptor Mand its self–assembly with disodium fumarate to construct a neutral tetrametallic Pd(II) supramolecular rectangle 16 (Scheme 6, left). Similarly, a shape selective 180° bimetallic Pd(II) acceptor was also synthesized and employed in self–assembly with several “clip” shaped organic donors to achieve several cationic tetrametallic Pd(II) supramolecular rectangles. Scheme 6: Schematic representation of the formation of neutral Pd4 (left) and Pd2 (right) molecular rectangles. Moreover, synthesis of a neutral bimetallic Pd(II) molecular rectangle 17 via one–pot reaction of trans–(PEt3)2PdCl2 with 1,8–diethynylanthracene (Scheme 6, right) is also presented herein. These –electron rich rectangles exhibit prominent chemoluminescence. Chemosensitivity of these complexes towards the detection of electron deficient nitroaromatics via fluorescence study is also discussed in details in this section. (Pl refer the abstract file for figures).

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Chemistry / Daniel A. Higgins / This doctoral thesis covers the synthesis, preparation, and characterization of a series of four perylene diimide derivatives, and the nanofibrous composite materials formed by these perylene diimides when complexed with oppositely charged polyelectrolytes. The perylene diimides include a symmetric dication (TAPDI2+), a symmetric dianion (PDISO32-), and two singly charged asymmetric varieties (C11OPDI+ and C7OPDI+) that contain a hydrophilic head group and hydrophobic ether tail. For all studies presented in the following chapters, poly(acrylate) (PA-) or poly(diallyldimethylammonium) chloride (PDDA+) are used as the polyelectrolytes (PEs). The patterned deposition of sheer aligned, nanofibrous material within a fluidic device is conclusively demonstrated. Thin films of the nanofibrous composite are prepared from aqueous solutions of the semiconducting perylene diimides and oppositely charged polyelectrolyte precursors. By sequentially exposing a clean glass substrate to the cationic and anionic precursor solutions, a thin film of composite material is deposited in a layer-by-layer fashion. By utilizing electrostatic self-assembly (ESA) and layer-by-layer (LbL) procedures, precise control of film thickness and optical density are obtained. The effect of perylene diimide structure and charge on resultant composite film morphology is explored. Through spectroscopic and microscopic studies of bulk perylene diimide solutions and composite thin films, it was determined that the formation of these fibrous materials is dependent on the aggregation of the PDI within the precursor solutions. The molecular orientation of the perylene diimide within the composite nanofiber was determined to be perpendicular to the fiber long axis. For the special case of C7OPDI+/PA- composite, flow induced fiber alignment was observed for both dip coated and flow coated samples. The influence of solution flow profile, PE molecular weight (MW), and PDI structure on deposition efficiency, macroscopic and microscopic morphology, and the potential for nanofiber alignment are investigated. Film formation mechanisms involving two unique routes are also presented.