Magnets, ball bearings, soap bubbles, and even molecules all tend to arrange themselves in similar patterns. But why? Identifying and explaining these patterns could help us engineer clusters of particles with specific functional properties for applications from targeted drug delivery to quantum computing. Click to learn more!
How can you fabricate a huge number of nanostructures in a split second? Self-assembly is a fast technique for the mass production of materials and complex structures. But before self-assembly is ready for prime time, scientists need to establish ways to control this process, so that desired nanostructures emerge from the unstructured soup of basic building blocks that are fast-moving atoms and molecules. Click here to find out how!
Self-assembly is the process by which individual building blocks—at the smallest level, atoms—spontaneously form larger structures. The structures they form depend on the size and shape of the building blocks, and on the conditions to which these building blocks are exposed. This can be demonstrated quite simply using breakfast cereal, or for more complex cases using specially prepared Legos.