New model to guide self-assembly

A new model which allows better control of self-assembly – the process through which molecules aggregate themselves into large clusters – has been developed by researchers in Eindhoven.

Molecular organisation of semiconducting molecules is important for the performance of functional organic materials in electric devices, and researchers from the Institute for Complex Molecular Systems (ICMS) at the Eindhoven University of Technology have developed a model which could be used in the production of plastic solar cells, and even in the long-term process of developing a synthetic cell.

Molecular self-assembly is often trial and error – basic molecules are brought together , and then you have to wait and see if the result has the desired structure. In this new research, the team developed a model which can better control the assembly process. The model provides a guide to which parameters need to be changed – such as temperature, concentration and solvent – to ensure the right material is assembled.

The researchers – who published their work in PNAS – show their model works in an assembly process of two molecules which together for a material similar to that used in plastic solar cells. The model could be used to optimise the production process for these solar cells, and well as other biomaterials such as hydrogels.

Peter Korevaar, lead author, says the added value results from a better understanding of the interactions between molecules on which the model is based. This will allow extension to more complex assembly processes, as well as the prediction of their outcomes, with the building of a synthetic cell as the longer term goal.

Model-driven optimisation of multicomponent self-assembly processes www.pnas.org/content/early/2013/10/02/1310092110