Self Assembly

As below, so above. That seems to be an operating principle for molecules that start with a basic chirality - or "handed-ness" -- and pass it on as they combine into larger structures. An international team that included Rice University materials scientist Edwin Thomas pried a new, fundamental detai more

Solar rays are a plentiful, clean source of energy that is becoming increasingly important as the world works to shift away from power sources that contribute to global warming. But current methods of harvesting solar charges are expensive and inefficient--with a theoretical efficiency limit of 33 p more

Scientists from the Center for Functional Nanomaterials (CFN) have dramatically improved the response of graphene to light through self-assembling wire-like nanostructures that conduct electricity. The improvement could pave the way for the development of graphene-based detectors that can quickly se more

One-dimensional (1D) helical nanofibers were yielded through the self-assembly of an achiral all-conjugated diblock copolymer, poly(3-hexylthiophene)-b-poly[3-(6-hydroxyl)hexylthiophene] (P3HT-b-P3HHT) in the aged pyridine solution. Such helical nanofibers were formed driven by the π-π interaction b more

In order to investigate the effects of Sm2O3 promoter on catalytic performance, the ordered mesoporous NiO–Sm2O3–Al2O3 catalysts were synthesized by a facile one-pot evaporation-induced self-assembly (EISA) method and used in CO methanation reaction to produce synthetic natural gas. Besides, the ord more

One-pot self-assembly of three components (metal acetates as the metal precursor, tridentate polypyridyl ligand N,N′-bis(2-pyridylmethyl)-tert-butylamine (bpta) as a capping ligand and bent dicarboxylic acids, 4,4'-(dimethylsilanediyl)bis-benzoic acid (H2L1) or 4,4'-oxybis-benzoic acid (H2L2), as br more