A4: Synthesis by Assembly

This Area within the FAIRmat consortium focuses mostly on soft-matter samples, where secondary (non-covalent, e.g. electrostatic) interactions drive the (self-)assembly of the material prior chemical reactions take place.

Soft matter envelops a range of materials, where perhaps the most common characteristics is that the thermal energy is sufficient to cause local changes and steady fluctuation within the sample. Such materials are often in states of matter that are neither simple liquids nor crystalline solids. A vast number of materials fall into this category, such as polymers, biological materials, organic nanoparticles, colloids, liquid crystals, gels, foams, emulsions, and other mesoscopic constituents. The richness of soft matter goes far beyond their simple components. New proper- ties are the result of collective behavior, such as formation of aggregates and the emergence of order or structure via static and dynamic self-assembly. Self-assembly is driven by interactions that have hierarchy in strength, scale, and time. The structures generated are often metastable states that can be exploited to develop, e.g., switchable and active materials.