Themed collection Materials innovation through interfacial physics and chemistry

Molecules align and orient, atoms have higher energies, forces and fields bear anisotropies, and anomalies happen at interfaces. Innovative materials are developed with a deep understanding of interfacial physics and chemistry.

This manuscript reviews recent progress in the assembly and application of nanostructured polymer materials at various interfaces.

First steps towards development of tailor-made functional nanomaterials are knowledge about interfacial chiral, molecular recognition and LB patterning model systems.

Strategies for molecular machine operation by macroscopic mechanical force using interfacial science have been proposed.

Strong electrostatic interaction between metallo-supramolecular polymers and DNA was confirmed by UV, CD, and CV. The stable conjugation structure was revealed by using computational methodology and supported by AFM.

We present here the fabrication of a solvent responsive polymer micromachine which could be easily driven by interfacial solvent actuation.

Experiments and simulations elucidate the chemical reactions occurring near the tip–sample interface during high field chemistry of diphenylgermane.

Anisotropic photoconductivity of millimeter-sized flat sheet fullerene crystals obtained through arene–perfluoroarene interactions.

Proteins adsorbed in nanoporous silica SBA-15 and propylated C₃SBA-15 are perturbed to a different extent, leading to different enzymatic activity.

TiO₂ nanoclusters supported on rutile (110) surface show reduced band gaps, better charge carrier separation and enhanced reactivity, making them candidate material systems for renewable energy generation.

Mesoporous silica/epoxy polymer composites with low thermal expansion property are fabricated through solvent evaporation process.

Novel nonionic surfactant dipentaerythrityl tri-(12-hydroxystearate) self-assembles into rod-like micelles in nonpolar organic solvents.

We demonstrate the preparation and the excellent chiral catalytic performance of chiral-oxazaborolidine-immobilized KIT-6 with 3D porous structure for the enantioselective reduction of aromatic prochiral ketones.

Alkylamine-coated ZnS nanorods and nanowires assemble into a well-defined superstructure with hierarchical order.

Excitation energy migration and its effect on fluorescence resonance energy transfer properties of a few oligo(p-phenylenevinylene) based organogelators with different end functional groups are described.

Flat nano-island gold films were investigated with attenuated total reflection infrared spectroscopy and show characteristic structure-dependent surface-enhanced infrared absorption.

The impedimetric behaviour of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) with different sizes was studied fixing AuNP concentration, surface area or content of gold.

Density Functional Theory Free Energy Calculations show new favourable pathways for surface hydrosilylation of 1-alkenes.

Surface segregation of poly(2-methoxyethyl acrylate) in a mixture with poly(methyl methacrylate).

Molecular self-assembly has been used to prepare organic nanotubes from specially substituted pentacene derivatives.

Layer-by-layer self-assembly modulated by a Cassie–Wenzel transition can selectively modify patterned porous films prepared by the breath figure method.

Highly sensitive photoalignment of calamitic and discotic liquid crystals can be realized by axis-selective triplet energy transfer.

An enantioselective control of amino acid recognition was achieved by the mechanical compression of Langmuir monolayers of a cholesterol-armed cyclen complex.

We report the first direct inkjet-printed gold nanoparticle electrode arrays, and apply them to detection of the cancer biomarker interleukin-6.

Disk-like surfactant bicelles template the growth of novel platinum nanowheels with thickened centers, radial dendritic nanosheets and flared edges.

Anisotropic meshes with anisotropic wettability were fabricated by simple stretching and crosslinking of poly(1,2-butadiene) honeycomb films.

Clay mineral particles introduced in a gelatin matrix provide an effective control over the matrix crystallinity and, therefore an effective control over the polypeptide based nanocomposite mechanical properties.

N,S co-doped TiO₂ nanosheets with exposed {001} facets, prepared by a mixing-calcination method, showed an enhanced visible-light photocatalytic activity.