Self-Assembly of Polymers

• Main Author: Vikulina, Anna (auth)
• Other Authors: Volodkin, Dmitry (auth)
• Format: Electronic Book Chapter
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI - Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute 2020
• Subjects: History of engineering & technology; evaporative self-assembly; encapsulation; n/a; microstructure; solvent vapor annealing; drug delivery; polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane; protein adsorption resistance; photo-sensitive; calcium carbonate; fluorescence; mucin; polymerisation; marine exopolysaccharide; transglutaminases; porous hydrogel; adsorption; aprotinin; nanoparticle; calcium alginate; protamine; nanocrystalline; self-assembly; morphological transformation; cell culture; block polymers; stimuli-responsive polymer; crosslinking; mesoporous; Ti6Al4V; polymer; flexible geometric confinement; layer-by-layer; surface modification; co-synthesis; nanolithography; CaCO3; synthetic polypeptide; air-liquid interface; food industry; stimuli-responsive polymers; field-effect transistor; Marangoni convection; polymer scaffold; collagen; biomedicine; thin films; controlled release; tension gradient; monolayer
• Online Access: DOAB: download the publication; DOAB: description of the publication

Nowadays, polymer self-assembly has become extremely attractive for both biological (drug delivery, tissue engineering, scaffolds) and non-biological (packaging, semiconductors) applications. In nature, a number of key biological processes are driven by polymer self-assembly, for instance protein folding. Impressive morphologies can be assembled from polymers thanks to a diverse range of interactions involved, e.g., electrostatics, hydrophobic, hots-guest interactions, etc. Both 2D and 3D tailor-made assemblies can be designed through modern powerful techniques and approaches such as the layer-by-layer and the Langmuir-Blodgett deposition, hard and soft templating. This Special Issue highlights contributions (research papers, short communications, review articles) that focus on recent developments in polymer self-assembly for both fundamental understanding the assembly phenomenon and real applications.