Scientists ‘photograph’ nano-particle self-assembly
Posted by: Chris Williamson in Nanotechnology(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.
Working out how nano-particles are built is key to developing new ‘intelligent materials’, electronic devices, and understanding the bio-machinery that operates in living cells.
The ability to control this self-assembly has profound consequences for the development of new technologies as well as understanding the basis for complex chemistry, and for example, the origins of life.
In a study reported in the journal Science this week, researchers at Glasgow, along with colleagues at the University of Bielefeld, Germany, devised an experiment which enabled them to observe molecules being constructed around what appeared to be a transient template cluster.
The experiment involved the construction a flow reactor system for the assembly of the nano-particles under dynamic ‘flowing’ conditions. This new experimental approach allows self-assembly to be examined in a new way at the nano-level, giving rise to unprecedented mechanistic information unmasking the complexities of molecular self-assembly. more>>>
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