Special Issue "Molecular Self-Assembly"

Guest Editor
Prof. Dr. Vince Rotello
Department of Chemistry, University of Massachusetts, 1302-1314 LGRT, 710 North Pleasant Street, Amherst, MA 01003, USA
Website: http://www.umass.edu/rotellogroup/
E-Mail:
Interests: host-guest chemistry; self-assembly; nanomaterials; polymers; bionanotechnology; surfaces

Dear Colleagues,

Molecular self-assembly is a "bottom-up" methodology that provides direct access to nanometer-scale devices and nanostructured materials. This approach is inspired by Nature, where billions of years of evolution resulted in an incredibly diverse array of molecular machines (e.g. enzymes) and superstructures. Researchers in the field of self-assembly explore the fundamental attributes of non-covalent interactions while creating molecular building blocks designed to spontaneously assemble into the defined structures desired for functional materials and devices. The strength and versatility of this approach lies in the variety of accessible synthetic systems coupled with the inherent error correction enabled by the thermodynamic nature of self-assembly. The field of self-assembly is currently a science rather than a technology, with much to be learned about the nature and scope of self-assembly. Simultaneously, there are many things that self-assembly can do that are already revolutionizing science, technology, and even our day-to-day life.

Prof. Dr. Vince Rotello
Guest Editor

Submission

All papers should be submitted to ijms@mdpi.org. To be published continuously until the deadline and papers will be listed together at the special issue website.

Submitted papers should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere. All papers are refereed through a peer-review process. A guide for authors is available on the Instructions for Authors page. The International Journal of Molecular Sciences is an international peer-reviewed monthly journal published by Molecular Diversity Preservation International.

Article Processing Charges (APC) are 800 CHF per paper and additional English correction fees (250 CHF) will be added in certain cases (1050 CHF per paper for those papers that require extensive additional formatting and/or English corrections) for paper submitted before 31 December 2009. Starting 1 January 2010, Article Processing Charges are of 1000 CHF per accepted article.

• supramolecular chemistry
• nanotechnology
• intermolecular self-assembly
• intramolecular self-assembly (folding)
• hydrogen bonding
• hydrophobic forces
• van der Waals forces
• metal coordination
• π-π interactions

Type of Paper: Article
Title: Self Assembly of Nano Metric Metallic Particles for Realization of Photonic and Electronic Nano Transistors
Authors: Asaf Shahmoon¹, Ofer Limon¹, Olga Girshevitz² and Zeev Zalevsky¹
Affiliations: ¹ School of Engineering, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan 52900, Israel; E-mail: zalevsz@macs.biu.ac.il (Z.Z.)
² Nanotechnology center, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan 52900, Israel
Abstract: Self assembly of nano metric particles into patterned structures has large variety of multidisciplinary functionality and applicability in fields as engineering, photonics, chemistry and material sciences in realizing various types of nano metric passive as well as active devices such as nano metric electronic or photonic transistors, nano photonic hyper spectral sensors, analyzers for concentration of chemical compositions as well as usage of such particles for enhancing the imaging resolution of microscopes.
In this paper we present a new approach for constructing well defined arrangement of self assembly nano particles at sophisticated nano structures. The concept is based upon Focused Ion Beam (FIB) technology. Implantation of positive gallium ions on surface acts as an intermediary layer between the surface and the nano metric particles. The theoretical self assembly resolution is determines by the FIB sputter limit signal to noise ratio which is of about 6 nm. After installing the nano particles into the predefined nano metric structures we obtain tunability of those devices by applying external electronic or photonic control command that rearranges the position of the nano particles inside the devices and by that affects (i.e., modulates) the propagation stream of the information signal.
In the paper we discuss the related fabrication procedure of those nano metric transistors as well as present the experimental characterization of self assembled Au nano particles having nano metric dimensions corresponding to the resolution of the FIB.