Self-Assembly

Definition:

The process where components spontaneously organize or assemble into more complex objects, typically by bouncing around in a solution or gas phase until a stable structure of minimum energy is reached.

Summary/Description:

Self-assembly is crucial to the assembly of biomolecular nanotechnology, and is thus a promising method for assembling atomically precise devices. Components in self-assembled structures find their appropriate location based solely on their structural properties (or chemical properties in the case of atomic or molecular self-assembly). Self-assembly is by no means limited to molecules or the nanoscale and can be carried out on just about any scale, making it a powerful bottom-up assembly method.

Surfactant molecules can assemble into larger aggregates in solutions varying from round balls to circular rods and lamellar structures, whereas if a solid substrate is immersed in a liquid containing (functionalized) surfactant molecules a monolayer of these components can spontaneously form on the solid substrate either by physisorption, covalent binding or electrostatic interactions.