Mimicking the Natural World with Nanoarchitectonics for Self‐Assembled Superstructures

Abstract

Scientists are often inspired by nature, where naturally occurring morphologies, such as those that resemble animals and plants, can be created in the lab. In this review, we have provided an overview on complex superstructures of animals, plants and some similar shapes from the natural world. We begin this review with a discussion about the formation of various animal-like shapes from small organic molecules and polymers, and then move onto plants and other selected shapes. Literature surveys reveal that most of the polymers studied tend to form micellar structures, with some exceptions. Nevertheless, small organic molecules tend to form not only micellar structures but also other animal shapes such as worms and caterpillars. These superstructures tend to have high surface areas and variable surface morphology, making them very useful material for applications in various field such as catalysis, solar cells, and biomedicine, amongst others.

Self-assembled π-conjugated chromophores: preparation of one- and two-dimensional nanostructures and their use in photocatalysis

“…A constant source of inspiration for developing lightharvesting systems is natural photosynthesis, in which a preorganized assembly of chromophores performs conversion of light into chemical energy. [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8] While natural light-harvesting structures are usually organized via complex protein environments, some systems lack the support of a protein matrix. For example, in green sulphur photosynthetic bacteria, the socalled chlorosomes are based solely on pigments made of selfassembled chromophores.…”

Confined Space Nanoarchitectonics for Dynamic Functions and Molecular Machines

“…In fact, the research papers advocating nanoarchitectonics have a very wide range of material processes and applications. In basic fields, nanoarchitectonics can be applied to material synthesis [135][136][137][138][139][140][141], microstructure control [142][143][144][145][146][147][148][149], the elucidation of physical phenomena [150][151][152][153][154][155], and basic life science research [156][157][158][159][160][161]. In the applicationoriented fields, there are reports of applications in catalysis [162][163][164][165][166][167], sensors [168][169][170][171][172], devices [173][174][175][176][177][178], energy generation [179][180][181...…”

Chemistry of Materials Nanoarchitectonics for Two-Dimensional Films: Langmuir–Blodgett, Layer-by-Layer Assembly, and Newcomers

“…The concept of nanoarchitectonics also has much in common with self-organization through supramolecular chemistry and bottom-up material creation. − Therefore, it is not an entirely new concept. Nanoarchitectonics is a way to integrate existing scientific fields rather than create a totally new scientific field.…”