Anion-induced self-assembly of positively charged polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons towards nanostructures with controllable two-dimensional morphologies

A controllable self-assembly strategy of positively charged polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PCPAH) towards the formation of rectangle sheets and ribbon-like nanostructures has been achieved by choosing divalent anions with different sizes. In contrast, only rod-like nanostructures are obtained from PCPAH with univalent anions. It is revealed that the divalent anions play a key role in guiding the packing of PCPAH, which provides an unprecedented route to fabricate two-dimensional nanostructures.