Modular materials by self-assembly

Self-assembly is a promising route to producing materials and other chemical products with unprecedented functionality for biomedical, electronic, catalytic and separation process technologies. However, self-assembly will not achieve its full potential unless it is taken seriously as a manufacturing process, as opposed to a laboratory technique, and the obstacles to large-scale implementation are tackled and surmounted. This article, which is an extension of an earlier AIChE Journal Perspectives article, defines and suggests important research directions for chemical engineers in an effort to develop self-assembly into a practical process technology.