The Self-Organization Process

The way in which supermolecules can self-organize is dependent to a large degree on simple structural features, such as the density of the mesogenic units attached to the periphery of the central scaffold, their orientation of at- 

In addition to number density and orientation of attachment, the degree to which the mesogenic units are decoupled from the central structure is important. The shorter the linking unit, the more likely the material will act as a single supermolecular entity, whereas the longer the spacer the more likely it is that the properties of the individual mesogenic groups will dominate the overall properties of the material. 

Laterally appended side-chain liquid crystal polymers tend to exhibit nematic phases 

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While for LB-layers, the molecules have to be organized by means of compression prior to deposition of the monolayer at the air-water interface, the self-organization process into SAMs follows similar pathways by itself This requires sufli-... 

Fig. 15 Schematic illustration of the self-organizing processes for the composite of liquid crystalline OPV oligomers and SWCNTs [465]. (Reproduced by permission of The Royal Society of Chemistry)...

This is a nice example of hierarchical control over the self-organization process and is related to the thermodynamic stability and kinetic inertia due to the interactions of a convergent stabilization due to all kinds of electrostatic interactions [41]. 

II. REPRODUCTION OF BONE NANOSTRUCTURE THROUGH THE SELF-ORGANIZATION PROCESS ... 

The t wo-stage porous an odization w as ma de f rom th e f ront s ide of the samples. At the first stage, the 5 pm thick porous anodic alumina layer with ordered matrix of hexagonal pores was formed due to the self-organization process. The anodization time was about 5 min. 

Experimentally, Thomas and coworkers found that hydrocarbon-coated gold nanoparticles, with a diameter of 3.5 nm, segregated to the interface between the microdomains of poly(styrene-btock-ethylene propylene) (PS-fe-PEP) copolymer, whereas larger hydrocarbon-coated silica nanoparticles (21.5nm in diameter) were located at the center of the PEP domains [79], In the absence of specific enthalpic interactions between the two types of nanoparticles and the polymer matrix, the result suggests a profound influence of entropic contributions to the self-organization process. For large particles, the decrease in conformational entropy of the respective polymer subchains after particle sequestration is dominant, whereas for smaller particles, the decrease in entropy is outweighed by the particle translational entropy. 

Yasuda, K., Macak, J. M., Berger, S., Ghicov, A, and Schmuki, P. [2007]. Mechanistic aspects of the self-organization process for oxide nanotube formation on valve metals. J. Electrodiem. Soc, 154, pp. C472-C478. 

An overview about the most important analyzing techniques to observe and describe the self-organizing process in solid state (bulk) in its duration or as a result is presented in Table 11.5. Table 11.6 summarizes surface-relevant methods. For more detailed information about surface and interface characterization methods for polymers, see Reference 108. Particularly useful is the combination/hyphenation of methods. 

Axioms 13. The principle of enclosure of the dynamic system s attractors defines basic definitions of the synergetic paradigm which can be interpreted as a decomposition of areas of states in the self organization process and segregation of the order parameters to which other system s parameters tune in the evolution process. 

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