Soft matter materials chemistry

纳米技术，在其最一般的意义上，意味着在纳米长度尺度（10^-9到10^-7米）上控制物质，超越单个分子（< 2纳米）和小分子组合（< 10纳米）的大小。当许多团队将精力集中在小型化设备的开发上时，我们的目标是将纳米结构材料集成到可见尺寸的设备中。我们现在面临的挑战是如何将对材料结构的局部控制从纳米尺度扩展到毫米和厘米尺度，以及如何将这些信息化学印记到分子结构中。我们的方法遵循自然的例子，采用自组织。

Nanotechnology, in its most general sense, implies the control over matter on a nanometre length scale (10^-9 to 10^-7 metres), beyond the size of individual molecules (< 2 nm) and small molecular assemblies (< 10 nm). While many groups focus their efforts on the development of miniaturized devices, we aim for the integration of nano-structured materials into devices of visible sizes. The challenge we now face is how to extend the local control over the materials structure on a nanometre length scale to millimetre and centimetre length-scales and how to chemically imprint this information into a molecular structure. Our approach follows nature's example and employs self-organization.