Manipulating Molecular Organizations from “Dimer” to “Tetramer” for Water Evaporation and Thermoelectricity Generation

Four naphthalenediimide-based donor-acceptor structured organic photothermal materials are synthesized with systematically engineered donor-acceptor connecting manners and alkyl chains. The molecular organizations in the solid state are manipulated from "dimer" to "tetramer", which endows the latter with the widest absorption, presumably due to its strongest polarization effect. The "tetramer" material consistently outperforms the other three in solar-driven interfacial water evaporation and water-thermoelectricity cogeneration devices and is one of the highest-performance organic photothermal materials.