Electrostatic self-assembly using inorganic components

An attractive route to creating stable multilayers is electrostatic self-assembly using polyelectrolytes. Since the interaction between the polymer layer and the substrate, or between alternating layers, is based on electrostatic interactions, the chemical nature of the electrostatic components can be varied systematically. As a result, there is an extensive literature based on, among others, polymer-polymer, polymer-organic, polymer-inorganic, and polymer-biomolecular assemblies. 

Another way to produce polymeric multilayer systems is through the use of electrostatic self-assembly. With this technique, alternating positively and negatively charged layers can be deposited. This method leads to well-ordered multilayer systems, but when only polymeric components are used a substantial amount of interpenetration occurs. This problem can be reduced by the use of inorganic materials. 

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