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Programmable self-assembly

Nature Materials volume 14, pages 2–9 (2015)Cite this article

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Two conceptual strategies for encoding information into self-assembling building blocks highlight opportunities and challenges in the realization of programmable colloidal nanostructures.

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Figure 1: The role of information in top-down manufacturing and bottom-up self-assembly.
Figure 2: Example of the puzzle and folding strategies for information-driven self-assembly.
Figure 3: Examples of experimental realizations of the puzzle approach using colloidal components.
Figure 4: Examples of flexible 1D nanostructures.
Figure 5: Encoding information in 1D nanostructures.

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Acknowledgements

L.C. acknowledges support from Iowa State University. K.J.M.B. acknowledges support from the Center for Bioinspired Energy Science, an Energy Frontier Research Center funded by the US Department of Energy, Office of Science, Basic Energy Sciences, under Award DE-SC0000989.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Ludovico Cademartiri is in the Departments of Materials Science & Engineering and Chemical & Biological Engineering, US Department of Energy, Iowa State University of Science and Technology, 2240J Hoover Hall, Ames, Iowa 50011, USA, and Ames Laboratory, Ames, Iowa 50011, USA,

    Ludovico Cademartiri

  2. Kyle J. M. Bishop is in the Department of Chemical Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University, 132C Fenske Lab, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, USA,

    Kyle J. M. Bishop

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  1. Ludovico Cademartiri
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Correspondence to Ludovico Cademartiri.

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Cademartiri, L., Bishop, K. Programmable self-assembly. Nature Mater 14, 2–9 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat4184

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