Out-of-equilibrium self-assembly approaches for new soft materials

Abstract

Living creatures exists for an important part out of soft material, such as skin, organs and cells, that are out-of-equilibrium formed by the self-assembly of molecular building blocks. Natural materials are continuously active with dynamic processes occurring, such as growth, shrinkage and transport mechanisms under the consumption of energy. Extending the knowledge on out-of- equilibrium self-assembly will open new opportunities for programmable and self-healing materials. In this thesis a new design approach for out-of-equilibrium formed self-assembled materials is described and tested experimentally. A key development is the chemical fuel driven self-assembly of molecular gelators and colloidal particles. Using thermodynamic insights for the out-of-equilibrium self-assembly an understanding of the different processes is obtained. Then the development of an organic reaction-diffusion based system results in the spatial organization of self-assembled materials. Finally, a step towards controlled enzyme interactions by materials is made through the immobilization of proteins to self-assembled materials.