Temporal control over growth of dynamic charge-transfer stacks

Abstract

Self-assembly has always been a promising route to achieve novel materials. This has been possible by decades of research and laying down of principles governing the phenomenon. Almost all of this assembly is under thermodynamic parameters and provide minimal help in exploring a temporally driven dimension of self-assembly. On the other hand in biological systems, which have always served as an omnipresent inspiration for self-assembly, control their aggregates and function temporally with unparalleled deft. Considering the conventional self-assembly one wonders if the complexity and dexterity of biological systems is ever to be matched and perhaps one might tread on diverse scientific routes for kinetically controlled self-assembly.