Tuning soft nanostructures in self-assembled supramolecular gels: from morphology control to morphology-dependent functions

Abstract

Supramolecular gels are one kind of important soft material, in which small low-molecular weight compounds self-assemble into various nanostructures through non-covalent interactions to immobilize the solvents. While there are many important fundamental issues related to the gelation process, such as the design of the gelator, synergism of various non-covalent interactions between gelators, gelator-solvents, the balances between gelation and crystallization and so on, the self-assembled nanostructures forming during gelation are very interesting. These nanostructures have many unique features, such as the flexibility to respond to external stimuli, morphological diversity, ease of fabrication in large quantities, and so on. This review highlights some important features in tuning the nanostructures in the supramolecular gels from their morphological diversity, morphology control, morphology conversion, and morphology-depended functions.

Keywords: morphology; self-assembly; supramolecular gels.