Module 6

• Democritus - He imagined that all matter in the universe evolved from the organization of atomistic components to form the Earth and solar system, stars and galaxies.
• “Nothing exists except atoms and empty space, everything else is opinion.” – Democritus
• Rene Descartes - He envisioned an ordered universe arising out of chaos according to natural laws through the organization of small objects into larger assemblages.
• Self-assembly is a process in which components, separate or linked, spontaneously form well-ordered stable aggregates with no human intervention.
• Self-assembly is a process in which components, separate or linked, spontaneously form well-ordered stable aggregates with no human intervention.
• Self-assembly - can occur with components having sizes from the molecular to the macroscopic provided that appropriate conditions are met.
• The self-assembly process is reversible. The components either equilibrate between aggregated and non-aggregated states or adjust their positions relative to each other once the aggregates are formed.
• Examples of self-assembly:

  1. Lipids
  2. Flocking starlings
  3. School of fish
  4. Bacterial colonies
  5. The Solar System
  6. The Galaxy
• Molecular Self-Assembly (DNA, Cell membrane, Proteins)
• Molecular Self-assembly - when molecules spontaneously assemble into supramolecules
• Forces in molecular self-assembly involve non-covalent or weak covalent interactions, such as van der Waals forces, electrostatic and hydrophobic interactions, and hydrogen and coordination bonds.
• Self-assembly of larger components or macroscopic substances (Bacterial colonies, Solar System, School of Fish)
• Self-assembly of larger components or macroscopic substances - involves other kinds of interaction such as gravitational attraction, external electromagnetic fields, and magnetic, capillary, and entropic interactions.
• Types of Self-assembly:

  1. Static self-assembly
  2. Dynamic self-assembly
• Energy is either required or released during the self-assembly process.
• Static self-assembly - processes that require energy
• Dynamic self-assembly - processes that dissipate energy
• Variants of self-assembly:

  1. Templated
  2. Biological
• Examples of Static Self-assembly:

  1. Bubble raft
  2. Lipid bilayers
  3. Atomic, ionic, and molecular crystals
  4. Self-assembled monolayers
  5. Black lipid films
  6. Liquid crystals
  7. Colloidal crystals
  8. Fluidic self-assembly
• Examples of Dynamic Self-assembly:

  1. Oscillating and reaction-diffusion reactions
  2. Weather patterns
  3. Solar systems
  4. Galaxies
  5. Schools of fish
  6. Swarms of ants
  7. Bacterial colonies
• Examples of Templated Self-assembly:

  1. Self-assembled monolayers
  2. Light matter
  3. Fluidic self-assembly
  4. Macroscopic and mesoscopic structures
• Examples of Biological self-assembly:

  1. Bacterial colonies
  2. Swarms of ants
  3. Schools of fish
• Self-assembly plays a significant role in nanoscience and nanotechnology and in the fabrication of three-dimensional microstructures.
• Self-assembly started from the study of molecules.
• Potential applications of self-assembly are:

  1. crystallization at all scales
  2. robotics and manufacturing
  3. nanoscience and technology
  4. microelectronics
  5. netted systems
• Self-assembly - a process when simple objects join together to form more complex products without human intervention.
• Self-assembly exists in all scales, from the microscopic to the cosmologic.
• At the smallest scales, subatomic particles self-assemble to form atoms, atoms self-assemble to form molecules, and molecules self-assemble to form crystals. At the largest scales, stars self-assemble to form galaxies and galaxies self-assemble to form galaxy clusters
• When molecules form spontaneously highly self-organized supramolecules that utilize no external work, it is called molecular self-assembly.
• templated: igneous rock ; biological: bacterial colonies