Molecular self-assembly articles within Nature

Featured

  • Article |

    A method is presented to harness the paper-folding mechanism of reconfigurable macroscale systems to create reconfigurable DNA origami structures, in anticipation that it will advance the development of complex molecular systems.

    • Myoungseok Kim
    • , Chanseok Lee
    •  & Do-Nyun Kim

  • Perspective |

    Inanimate matter is beginning to show some signs of basic intelligence—the ability to sense, actuate and use memory, as controlled by an internal communication network in functional materials.

    • C. Kaspar
    • , B. J. Ravoo
    •  & W. H. P. Pernice

  • Article |

    Dispersion of colloidal disks in a nematic liquid crystal reveals several low-symmetry phases, including monoclinic colloidal nematic order, with interchange between them achieved through variations in temperature, concentration and surface charge.

    • Haridas Mundoor
    • , Jin-Sheng Wu
    •  & Ivan I. Smalyukh

  • Article |

    The building blocks of the nanostructures observed on Drosophila corneas are determined, and then used to create artificial nanostructures with anti-reflective and anti-adhesive properties.

    • Mikhail Kryuchkov
    • , Oleksii Bilousov
    •  & Vladimir L. Katanaev

  • Article |

    The construction of a self-assembled nanocage composed of four metal ions and six antiaromatic walls is demonstrated, and the effect of antiaromaticity on the host–guest properties is investigated.

    • Masahiro Yamashina
    • , Yuya Tanaka
    •  & Jonathan R. Nitschke

  • Letter |

    Cooperative quantum effects in superlattices of quantum dots made of caesium lead halide perovskite give rise to superfluorescence, with the individual emitters interacting coherently to give intense bursts of light.

    • Gabriele Rainò
    • , Michael A. Becker
    •  & Thilo Stöferle

  • Letter |

    A topologically engineered graphene nanoribbon superlattice is presented that hosts a one-dimensional array of half-filled, in-gap localized electronic states, enabling band engineering.

    • Daniel J. Rizzo
    • , Gregory Veber
    •  & Felix R. Fischer

  • Letter |

    A bottom-up process to achieve rapid growth of micrometre-sized three-dimensional nanocrystal superlattices during colloidal synthesis at high temperatures is revealed by in situ small-angle X-ray scattering; the process is applicable to several colloidal materials.

    • Liheng Wu
    • , Joshua J. Willis
    •  & Christopher J. Tassone

  • Letter |

    Surface patterning of nanoparticles with polymer patches is achieved in a poor solvent for the polymer by controlling the ratio between the sizes of polymer molecules and nanoparticles.

    • Rachelle M. Choueiri
    • , Elizabeth Galati
    •  & Eugenia Kumacheva

  • Letter |

    Chiral nematic liquid crystals are self-organized helical superstructures in which the helices can stand or lie, and lie in either a uniform or a random way; here, the helices are reversibly driven from a standing arrangement to a uniform lying arrangement and then rotated in-plane—solely by light.

    • Zhi-gang Zheng
    • , Yannian Li
    •  & Quan Li

  • Letter |

    Substitutional atomic doping is a process by which atomic defects are introduced into a host material, altering its properties; substitutional doping of cadmium selenide or lead selenide nanocrystal lattices with gold nanocrystals has now been achieved, the key being to ensure that the dopant nanocrystals are similar in size to the host nanocrystals.

    • Matteo Cargnello
    • , Aaron C. Johnston-Peck
    •  & Christopher B. Murray

  • Article |

    A computational method is reported that can be used to design protein nanomaterials in which two distinct subunits co-assemble into a specific architecture; five 24-subunit cage-like protein nanomaterials are designed, and experiments show that their structures are in close agreement with the computational design models.

    • Neil P. King
    • , Jacob B. Bale
    •  & David Baker

  • Letter |

    Different polymers can be used in combination to produce coexisting nanoparticles of different symmetry and tailored to co-assemble into well-ordered binary and ternary hierarchical structures.

    • André H. Gröschel
    • , Andreas Walther
    •  & Axel H. E. Müller

  • Letter |

    Stretchable conductors have many applications, from flexible electronics to medical implants; here polyurethane is filled with gold nanoparticles to give a composite with tunable viscoelastic properties arising from the dynamic self-organization of the nanoparticles under stress.

    • Yoonseob Kim
    • , Jian Zhu
    •  & Nicholas A. Kotov

  • Letter |

    Thermal transitions of polyisocyanide single molecules to polymer bundles and finally networks lead to hydrogels mimicking the properties of biopolymer intermediate-filament networks; their analysis shows that bundling and chain stiffness are crucial design parameters for hydrogels.

    • Paul H. J. Kouwer
    • , Matthieu Koepf
    •  & Alan E. Rowan

  • Letter |

    Topologically distinct colloidal particles introduced into a nematic liquid crystal align and generate topology-constrained three-dimensional director fields and defects in the liquid crystal fluid that can be manipulated with a variety of methods, opening up a new area of exploration in the field of soft matter.

    • Bohdan Senyuk
    • , Qingkun Liu
    •  & Ivan I. Smalyukh

  • News & Views |

    Molecular helicity affects many of the bulk properties of materials. A study finds that helicity also controls the self-assembly of colloidal particles, opening the door to a new generation of functional materials. See Letter p.348

    • Volker Schaller
    •  & Andreas R. Bausch

  • Letter |

    The spontaneous assembly of two different types of nanoparticle into ordered superlattices offers a route to designing materials with precisely controlled properties, but available synthesis strategies have many practical limitations. These authors report a fabrication process which overcomes these limitations. They generate large-scale (square-millimetre) binary superlattice structures at a liquid–air interface, allowing the material to be free standing or transferred to any substrate ready for fabrication into useful devices.

    • Angang Dong
    • , Jun Chen
    •  & Christopher B. Murray

  • News & Views |

    The use of magnetic fields to assemble particles into membranes provides a powerful tool for exploring the physics of self-assembly and a practical method for synthesizing functional materials.

    • Jack F. Douglas

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