Advanced Bioorganic and Inorganic Functional Materials: Symmetry and Applications

Dear Colleagues,

It is my great pleasure to announce that the Special Issue of Symmetry entitled “Advanced Bioorganic and Inorganic Functional Materials: Symmetry and Applications” is now open for submissions.

Symmetry is probably the most fundamental property of matter, permeating through all hierarchical levels of matter organization, from very elementary particles and force fields to the whole Universe. Various concepts of symmetry are of special interest in current research in natural and life sciences, mathematics, humanities, art, etc.

The vast majority of advanced functional materials are based on different manifestations of symmetry. Chiral-induced spin selectivity effect appearing when electron spins transmit through chiral organic molecules, supramolecular structures, and monolayers have recently become a central concept of spintronics. Self-organization of small bioorganic molecules and inorganic building blocks results in highly ordered nano- and microstructures with outstanding optical, mechanical, piezoelectric, and ferroelectric properties. On the other hand, symmetry breaking also can be a useful approach for the fabrication of new functional materials. For instance, the nonpolar crystals of alpha-glycine gained pyroelectric properties after enantioselective doping by other amino acids due to the local breakdown of centrosymmetric crystal packing. Therefore, the role of symmetry in modern material science cannot be overestimated.

This Special Issue aims to summarize recent progress in the creation, characterization, and application of advanced bioorganic and inorganic functional materials where their fascinating properties are related to various chemical and physical aspects of symmetry. Experimental, theoretical, and computational papers are welcome. The topics welcome in this Special Issue include, but are not limited to:

• Chirality effects in functional materials;
• Self-assembly and self-organization;
• Symmetry in supramolecular assemblies;
• Organic and inorganic nanoclusters;
• Bioorganic nanomaterials;
• Symmetry breaking effects;
• Enantioselective interactions;
• Symmetry related functional properties (e.g. piezo-, pyro, and ferroelectricity).

I cordially invite you to contribute to this Special Issue and make your research part of a unique collection.

Dr. Pavel Zelenovskiy
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Symmetry is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.