News tagged with self assembly

DNA as invisible ink can reversibly hide patterns

(PhysOrg.com) -- While most people know of DNA as the building blocks of life, these large molecules also have potential applications in areas such as biosensing, nanoparticle assembly, and building supramolecular ...

Nanotechnology / Bio & Medicine

created Jan 23, 2012 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (8) | comments 0 | with audio podcast feature

Single-Molecule Magnets Open New Door for Information Technology

(PhysOrg.com) -- Recent research by scientists in Italy and France shows that that single molecules have the ability to store information via their magnetic state. Their work is a first step toward a new generation ...

Physics / Condensed Matter

created Mar 09, 2009 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (24) | comments 2 feature

Researchers find best routes to self-assembling 3-D shapes

Material chemists and engineers would love to figure out how to create self-assembling shells, containers or structures that could be used as tiny drug-carrying containers or to build 3-D sensors and electronic ...

Other Sciences / Mathematics

created Dec 07, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (4) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Pentagonal tiles pave the way towards organic electronics

(PhysOrg.com) -- New research paves way for the nanoscale self-assembly of organic building blocks, a promising new route towards the next generation of ultra-small electronic devices.

Nanotechnology / Nanophysics

created May 06, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (8) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Single-crystal films could advance solar cells (w/ Video)

(PhysOrg.com) -- Cornell researchers have developed a new method to create a patterned single-crystal thin film of semiconductor material that could lead to more efficient photovoltaic cells and batteries.

Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials

created Oct 08, 2010 | popularity 5 / 5 (9) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

New self-assembling photovoltaic technology that repairs itself

Plants are good at doing what scientists and engineers have been struggling to do for decades: converting sunlight into stored energy, and doing so reliably day after day, year after year. Now some MIT scientists ...

Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials

created Sep 05, 2010 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (26) | comments 7 | with audio podcast

Self-assembling vehicles take flight (w/ Video)

(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers in Switzerland are developing miniature vehicles that can self-assemble and then take off vertically and fly as a stable array.

Technology / Engineering

created Jun 09, 2010 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (20) | comments 11 | with audio podcast report

From butterflies' wings to bank notes -- how nature's colors could cut bank fraud

Scientists have discovered a way of mimicking the stunningly bright and beautiful colours found on the wings of tropical butterflies. The findings could have important applications in the security printing ...

Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials

created May 30, 2010 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (11) | comments 5 | with audio podcast

Nanoshell structures: Self-assembly method yields materials with unique optical properties

Scientists from four U.S. universities have created a way to use Rice University's light-activated nanoshells as building blocks for 2-D and 3-D structures that could find use in chemical sensors, nanolasers ...

Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials

created May 27, 2010 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (9) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

Spiders at the nanoscale: Molecules that behave like robots

A team of scientists from Columbia University, Arizona State University, the University of Michigan, and the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) have programmed an autonomous molecular "robot" made ...

Nanotechnology / Bio & Medicine

created May 12, 2010 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (15) | comments 9 | with audio podcast

How world's smallest 'coffee ring' may help biosensors detect disease

(PhysOrg.com) -- The field of biosensing has recently found an unlikely partner in the quest for increased sensitivity: coffee rings. The next time you spill your coffee on a table, look at the spot left after ...

Nanotechnology / Nanophysics

created May 05, 2010 | popularity 3.5 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Self-assembling solar panels a step closer

(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists Robert J. Knuesel and Heiko O. Jacobs of the University of Minnesota have developed a way to make tiny solar cells self-assemble.

Chemistry / Materials Science

created Jan 14, 2010 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (26) | comments 2 | with audio podcast report

Scientists 'photograph' nano-particle self-assembly

(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists at the University of Glasgow have imaged the self-assembly of nano-particles, unveiling the blueprint for building designer molecular machines atom-by-atom.

Nanotechnology / Nanophysics

created Jan 04, 2010 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (16) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Switchable Nanostructures Made with DNA

(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory have found a new way to use a synthetic form of DNA to control the assembly of nanoparticles — this time resulting ...

Nanotechnology / Bio & Medicine

created Dec 21, 2009 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (10) | comments 0

Scientists Use DNA Scaffolding To Build Tiny Circuit Boards

(PhysOrg.com) -- Today, scientists at IBM Research and the California Institute of Technology announced a scientific advancement that could be a major breakthrough in enabling the semiconductor industry to ...

Nanotechnology / Nanophysics

created Aug 18, 2009 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (8) | comments 4

Self-assembly

Self-assembly is a term used to describe processes in which a disordered system of pre-existing components forms an organized structure or pattern as a consequence of specific, local interactions among the components themselves, without external direction.

Self-assembly can be classified as either static or dynamic. In static self-assembly, the ordered state forms as a system approaches equilibrium, reducing its free energy. However in dynamic self-assembly, patterns of pre-existing components organized by specific local interactions are not commonly described as "self-assembled" by scientists in the associated disciplines. These structures are better described as "self-organized".

For more information about Self-assembly, read the full article at Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.