Surfactant solutions assembly into nanostructures

An example of the first approach is the integration of hydrogels into nanostructured silica films by addition of a suitable monomer (e.g., methyl methacrylate, /V-isopropyl acrylamide, etc.) and an initiator for radical polymerization to a solution containing a structure-directing surfactant and a prehydrolyzed silica precursor. During self-assembly, the monomers partition within the hydrophobic core of the surfactant mesophase postsynthesis polymerization (for instance, by UV treatment) followed by solvent washing to remove the surfactant template yields a polymer-silica nanohybrid. 

Liposomes are aggregates of amphiphilic block copolymers or surfactant molecules that self-assemble into spherical nanostructures in aqueous solution. Typically, liposomes consist of a bilayer in which hydrophilic blocks of the polymer form the outer and inner shell of the bilayer while the hydrophobic blocks lie between the inner and outer shell. This configuration shields the hydrophobic blocks from the external aqueous solution and the aqueous internal core of the liposome. Liposomes can be functionalized with various biomolecules and loaded during the self-assembly process with reporters facilitating use of liposomes as effective labels for DNA detection. 

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