Fuel-driven dissipative self-assemblies play essential roles in living systems, contributing both to their complex, dynamic structures and emergent functions. Several dissipative supramolecular materials have been created using chemicals or light as fuel, with the goal of furthering our understanding of biological systems and creating new materials with life-like dynamic properties. However, electrical energy, one of the most common energy sources, has remained unexplored for such purposes. Here we demonstrate a new platform for creating active supramolecular materials using electrically fueled dissipative self-assembly. Through an electrochemical redox reaction network, a transient and highly active supramolecular assembly is achieved with rapid kinetics, directionality, and precise spatiotemporal control. As electronic signals are the default information carriers in modern technology, the described approach offers a promising opportunity to integrate active materials into electronic devices for bioelectronics applications.

Electrically fueled dissipative self-assembly of active materials

ACS Spring 2022

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