#self assembly

Prussian Blue finally transformed into octahedral structure after 300 years

For the first time in more than three centuries, Prussian Blue—long confined to its rigid cubic shape—has been transformed into an octahedral structure. A research team has successfully synthesized this new morphology by replacing water with a specialized solvent, glycerol, during the crystal growth process. Their findings were recently published online in Advanced Functional Materials. Accidentally discovered around the 1700s, Prussian Blue possesses a hollow three-dimensional framework that allows ions to move in and out with ease. These unique properties have enabled its use across diverse fields, from sodium-ion battery electrodes to radioactive cesium removal, catalysis, and environmental remediation. However, until now, its morphology had been limited. When synthesized in water, the reaction proceeds too quickly, making it difficult to control particle growth and producing only cubic particles. This constraint has prevented scientists from exploring shape-dependent properties or unlocking new applications.

Biopunk Self Assembled Scaffolding remastered.

How Confined Objects Arrange Themselves

A collection of mutually repelling objects can be forced into the same arrangement, whether they are magnets, soap bubbles, or hard spheres. [...] Mutually repelling particles in an infinite 2D tray will minimize their energy by forming a triangular lattice. But if the particles are small in number and pushed together, they’ll adopt a configuration that depends on the range and strength of the interaction, the shape of the container, and the tightness of the confinement. Now, contrary to expectations, Paulo Douglas Lima of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte in Brazil and his collaborators have shown that it’s possible to create the same set of configurations for a wide range of particle types [1]. The feat is possible thanks to a model that affords the researchers just two parameters to adjust.

Self-assembling luminophores reveal new design principle for efficient light-energy transport

In biological systems, especially for protein molecules, the formation of nanotubular structures is often guided by molecular folding. The folding process organizes interaction sites and enables the formation of complex architectures with high structural precision. However, translating that principle to synthetic small-molecule systems has remained challenging. Designing small molecules to fold In a recent study, a team of scientists led by Professor Shiki Yagai from the Graduate School of Engineering, Chiba University, Japan, reported that π-luminophore dyads can overcome this limitation and assemble into well-defined supramolecular nanotubes with unusual excitonic properties.

3D-printed superconductor achieves record performance with soft matter approach

Nearly a decade after they first demonstrated that soft materials could guide the formation of superconductors, Cornell researchers have achieved a one-step, 3D printing method that produces superconductors with record properties. The advance, detailed in Nature Communications, builds on years of interdisciplinary work led by Ulrich Wiesner, the Spencer T. Olin Professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, and could improve technologies such as superconducting magnets and quantum devices. Wiesner and colleagues reported in 2016 the first self-assembled superconductor using block copolymers—soft, chain-like molecules that naturally arrange themselves into orderly, repeating nanoscale structures. By 2021, the group found that these soft material approaches could produce superconducting properties on par with conventional methods.

Behind nature's blueprints: Physicists create 'theoretical rulebook' of self-assembly

Inspired by biological systems, materials scientists have long sought to harness self-assembly to build nanomaterials. The challenge: the process seemed random and notoriously difficult to predict. Now, researchers from the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA) and Brandeis University have uncovered geometric rules that act as a master control panel for self-assembling particles. The results, which could find applications ranging from protein design to synthetic nanomachines, were published in Nature Physics. Life is the ultimate nanotechnologist. Biology has long fascinated physicists with its ability to build complex molecular machines and structures from molecules that snap into place like magnets. But what governs this phenomenon that frequently occurs in nature?

Discoveries rewrite how some minerals form and dissolve

Two related discoveries detailing nanocrystalline mineral formation and dynamics have broad implications for managing nuclear waste, predicting soil weathering, designing advanced bioproducts and materials and optimizing commercial alumina production. The two recently published studies combine detailed molecular imaging and molecular modeling to sort out how gibbsite, a common aluminum-containing mineral, forms and dissolves in exquisite detail. Gibbsite self-assembly proceeds in a Tetris-like fashion Researchers at the Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory showed that small crystals orient themselves so their crystal lattices line up, then fuse to form larger gibbsite crystals. The resulting so-called mesocrystals are structures built from smaller, perfectly aligned nanocrystals. The study is published in Nature Communications.