Introduction to the Nanoscale & Nanoscale Advances joint themed collection: design and function of materials nanoarchitectonics

Katsuhiko Ariga

Katsuhiko Ariga received his PhD degree from the Tokyo Institute of Technology in 1990. He joined the National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS) in 2004 and is currently the leader of the Supermolecules Group and principal investigator of the World Premier International (WPI) Research Centre for Materials Nanoarchitectonics (MANA), NIMS. He is also appointed as a professor at the University of Tokyo.

Omar Azzaroni

Omar Azzaroni studied chemistry at the Universidad Nacional de La Plata (UNLP) (Argentina), receiving his PhD in 2004. He was appointed as a Max Planck Partner Group leader from 2009 until 2013. He has served as Vice Director of the Instituto de Investigaciones Fisicoquímicas Teóricas y Aplicadas (INIFTA) (2012–2015). He is currently a fellow of CONICET and head of the Soft Matter Laboratory of INIFTA. Since 2009, he has also been an Adjunct Professor of Physical Chemistry at UNLP. His research interests include nanostructured hybrid interfaces, supra- and macromolecular materials science and soft nanotechnology.

Richard Feynman, in his lecture entitled “There's plenty of room at the bottom”, argued that great possibilities come from working in the nanoscale world. That dream is now becoming a reality. With the development of advanced analytical instruments and theories, it is now possible to know the structure, movement, and function of the nanoscale, including atoms and molecules themselves.

The next step in nanotechnology is to transform nanoscale objects into functional materials. A new concept, nanoarchitectonics, has been proposed as the post nanotechnology concept.¹ Nanoarchitectonics is the science paradigm of architecture at the nanoscale. The goal is to construct materials with precise structures that can achieve high performance from nanoscale units such as atoms, molecules, and nanomaterials. It can be regarded as a nanoscale version of architecture and machine building.

Bottom-up architectures that generate functional materials by self-assembly of constituent molecules have been developed in several research fields. These approaches are often based on simple molecular interactions between a limited variety of components. Unlike these traditional approaches, nanoarchitectonics aims to go beyond well-known self-assembly and related strategies to universally construct material structures containing more asymmetric and hierarchical motifs from multiple components.

This grand challenge will require contributions from many scientific disciplines, including nanotechnology, supramolecular chemistry, materials science, and biotechnology. Atomic and molecular manipulation, organic chemical reactions, self-assembly, nano- and micro-fabrication, materials processing, and biotechnology are just a few of the tools available, which are already beginning to be combined. Nanoarchitectonics can also learn much from living organisms. The cell is, in effect, a functional factory. In a living cell, the unit molecules spontaneously build complex hierarchically structured, highly functional systems from different types of components. These molecules have their own tasks and roles and work together under nanoscale uncertainties such as thermal fluctuations. Beyond the sum of their individual interactions, the effects and interactions are harmonized to achieve sophisticated functions.

We believe that nanoarchitectonics is to materials science what the theory of everything is to physics: a method for everything in materials science.² Whereas the theory of everything can explain everything in fundamental science, nanoarchitectonics paves the way to create everything we want to use. It is a necessary historical step in the development of materials science and chemistry. The time has come to integrate all the uniquely developed approaches to materials design and manufacturing into a single concept: nanoarchitectonics. We have learned much about nanoscale objects and science.³ Now it is time to use nanoscale science to obtain functional materials and beneficial products.

This collection is focused on the design and function of materials nanoarchitectonics. Nanoarchitectonics refers to the creation of functional materials using nanoscale component units through including many fields such as nanostructured materials synthesis, supramolecular assembly, nanoscale structure fabrication, and materials hybridization. Its design and function have been utilized for developments of materials and structures for energy and environmental sciences, physical device integration, and bio and medical applications.

Research papers for various targets with the nanoarchitectonics concept are included from basic science to application-oriented subjects. For example, in a mini-review article entitled “Nanoarchitectonics for conductive polymers using solid and vapor phases”, Oaki and Sato summarize new synthetic methods using the solid and vapor phases for homogeneous coatings, hierarchical structures, composites, and copolymers (https://doi.org/10.1039/D2NA00203E). This solid and vapor phase nanoarchitectonics can be applied for not only conductive polymers but also other polymers toward a variety of applications. In a review article entitled “Nucleic acid isothermal amplification-based soft nanoarchitectonics as an emerging electrochemical biosensing platform”, by Liu et al., recent accomplishments in nucleic acid isothermal amplification strategies based on soft nanoarchitectonics are overviewed (https://doi.org/10.1039/D2NR02031A). Strategies for signal-amplified sensing systems, and their biological applications, are discussed as current challenges and prospects.

Nanoscale and Nanoscale Advances are interdisciplinary journals, publishing work on all aspects of nanoscale science and related materials. These journals are undoubtedly the most suited journal media for this themed collection on the design and function of materials nanoarchitectonics. We are very happy to have the nanoarchitectonics-based themed collection in these journals and much appreciate the editorial staff from Nanoscale and Nanoscale Advances for their guidance and support throughout the collection production process.

References

1. K. Ariga, Nanoscale Horiz., 2021, 6, 364.
2. K. Ariga and R. Fakhrullin, Bull. Chem. Soc. Jpn., 2022, 95, 774.
3. Concepts and Design of Materials Nanoarchitectonics, ed. O. Azzaroni and K. Ariga, Royal Society of Chemistry, Cambridge, 2022.

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