During the next FIFA World Cup to be held in 2018 in Russia you could be using football-shaped molecules to watch the football, scientists say.
Researchers have developed a new way to assemble individual molecules that could revolutionise the creation of novel materials with numerous potential applications, including emerging technologies such as flexible TVs.
The work focuses on the interactions between molecules and in particular on “amphiphilic” molecules, which contain two distinct parts to them. Household detergent is a good example of a product that relies on interacting amphiphilic molecules, researchers said.
The new method takes the concept of amphiphilic assembly one step further, and applies it to a completely new set of hydrophobic molecules. The study was carried out by an international team of researchers led by Dr Martin Hollamby (Keele University, UK) and Dr Takashi Nakanishi (National Institute for Materials Science, Japan).