Bottom-up strategy of materials fabrication: a new trend in nanotechnology of soft materials

doi:10.1016/S1359-0294(00)00081-9

Current Opinion in Colloid & Interface Science

Volume 6, Issue 1, February 2001, Pages 11-16

https://doi.org/10.1016/S1359-0294(00)00081-9 Get rights and content

Abstract

Recent progresses in nanometer-scale molecular self-organization and mesoscopic pattern formation are reviewed from the view point of nanotechnology of bottom-up materials fabrication. Nanometer-scale layer-by-layer self-assemblies on nanoparticles will provide wide applications in many fields. The micro-contact printing technique is effectively used for up-sizing the nanostructured molecular assemblies as submicrometer- and micrometer-scale patterns. Dissipative structures formed in non-equilibrium systems as self-organized spatio-temporal structures are newly employed for the mesoscopic patterning of the nanostructured molecular assemblies.

Introduction

Micro fabrication is a typical down-sizing technology for producing micro devices from bulk materials. Even with the latest lithographic technique, however, the nanometer-scale processing is not so easy. Meanwhile, in biological systems, a bottom up strategy has been adopted for the hierarchical structuring of molecules to meter-scale biological organisms. Biological membranes, one of the typical nanometer-scale molecular assemblies, are structural elements of mesoscopic subcellular apparatuses, organellas. Organellas constitute micrometer-scale biological cells which are basal constructing units of biological tissues and living organs. Over the past decade, by using the self-assembling nature of artificially designed molecules, chemists have succeeded in constructing many kinds of nanometer-scale molecular assemblies, e.g. molecular recognition-directed molecular assemblies [1], surfactant bilayer membranes [2], [3], [4], Langmuir–Blodgett films [5], self-assembled monolayers [6], [7], and alternatively deposited polyelectrolyte multilayers [8]. Nanometer-scale molecular self-assembling is the first step of the biomimetic approach of the bottom-up strategy [9] for materials fabrication. The second step of the bottom-up strategy is to organize the nanometer-scale molecular assemblies into larger supramolecular systems in the mesoscopic scale of 10 nm to the submicrometer range, which is an unexplored field aimed at by the nanotechnology of soft materials.

Section snippets

Nanometer-scale molecular self-assemblies

Surfactant bilayers are straightforward mimetics of biomembranes and nanoscopic layered supramolecular structures composed of totally synthesized artificial surfactant molecules such as a double-chain ammonium amphiphile [10] which is spontaneously assembled in water. A large variety of bilayer-forming amphiphiles, which are not directly related to the structure of biolipids, have been synthesized [11]. Both static and dynamic structural characteristics of surfactant bilayers, two-dimensional

Pragmatic combination of self-assembly and lithography for mesoscopic organization

The mesoscopic organization of the nano-scaled supramolecular assemblies is the second stage of the bottom up strategy. Mesoscopic structuring of polymer assemblies have been known as micro- and macro-phase separation of block copolymers and polymer blends, respectively [24]. The main driving force of phase separation in polymer films is the incompatibility of each block of the copolymers or polymers. The surface energy of substrates is another factor affecting the microstructures when the

Hierarchical structuring of polymers and nanoparticles by full self-organization processes

The biological organisms are dynamic fully self-organized systems of hierarchical molecular structuring with continuous energy consumption. Another type of dynamic self-organization, so-called ‘dissipative structure’, is known as a general physical phenomenon which is generated under chemical or physical conditions far from equilibrium. Many spatiotemporal patterns of the dissipative structures are formed in the dissipative processes ranging in size from sub-micrometers to hundreds of

Conclusion

The biomimetic approach of novel materials design is a bottom-up strategy of fabricating molecular assemblies with a hierarchical structure from the nanometer-scale to a mesoscopic scale. The layer-by-layer assemblies, including bilayer membranes, LB films, etc. are the nanoscale structural elements of the novel engineered materials. For the second step of the bottom-up strategy of material fabrication, we propose a fully self-organization procedure for the mesoscopic structuring of

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Bottom-up strategy of materials fabrication: a new trend in nanotechnology of soft materials

Abstract

Introduction

Section snippets

Nanometer-scale molecular self-assemblies

Pragmatic combination of self-assembly and lithography for mesoscopic organization

Hierarchical structuring of polymers and nanoparticles by full self-organization processes

Conclusion

Prog Polym Sci

Thin Solid Films

J Membrane Sci

Supramol Sci

Thin Solid Films

Mater Sci Eng

Mater Sci Eng

Perspectives in supramolecular chemistry — from molecular recognition towards molecular information processing and self-organization

Angew Chem Int Ed Engl

Synthetic bilayer membranes: molecular design, self-organization and application

Angew Chem Int Ed Engl

Membrane Mimetic Chemistry

Membranes and Molecular Assemblies

Molecular architecture and function of polymeric oriented systems: models for the study of organization, surface recognition, and dynamics of biomembranes

Angew Chem Int Ed Engl

An Introduction to Ultrathin Organic Films from Langmuir–Blodgett to Self-Assembly

Molecular self-assembly and nanochemistry: a chemical strategy for the synthesis of nanostructures

Science

Fuzzy nanoassemblies: toward layered polymeric multicomposites

Science

A totally synthetic bilayer membrane

J Am Chem Soc

Synthetic bilayer membranes: molecular design and molecular organization

Adsorption kinetics of water-soluble polymers onto a spread monolayer

Langmuir

Supramolecular polyelectrolyte assemblies

Alternate assembly of ordered multilayers of SiO2 and other nanoparticles and polyions

Langmuir

Nanoparticle arrays on surface for electronic, optical, and sensor applications

Chem Phys Chem

Nanoengineering of inorganic and hybrid hollow spheres by colloidal templating

Science

Novel hollow polymer shells by colloid-templated assembly of polyelectrolytes

Angew Chem Int Ed

Alternate assembly of ordered multilayers of SiO₂ and other nanoparticles and polyions