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Micromachines
Special Issues
Self-Assembly of Microcomponents
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Self-Assembly of Microcomponents

A special issue of Micromachines (ISSN 2072-666X). This special issue belongs to the section "D：Materials and Processing".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 November 2019) | Viewed by 10897

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Hiroaki Suzuki

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Precision Mechanics, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Chuo University, 1-13-27 Kasuga, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, Japan
Interests: BioMEMS; self-assembly; micromachine; Lab on a Chip; membrane biophysics
Prof. Dr. Hiroaki Onoe

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Science and Technology, Keio University, Bldg. 25, Room 202, 3-14-1 Hiyoshi, Kohoku-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa 223-8522, Japan
Interests: bioMEMS; microfluidics; tissue engineering; hydrogel; microrobot; self-assembly
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues

The concept of self-assembly (SA) is cross-disciplinary, and is involved at a wide range of scales. In chemistry, biochemistry, and materials science, in which the building blocks are nanometer-scale molecules, the strategy of SA is inevitable. The SA of non-molecular meso-scale components (>100 nm) has also been challenged extensively. In the 2000s, researchers in MEMS and colloidal science explored this direction mainly based on the energy-minimizing principle, aiming (either practically or potentially) to form hard and static structures such as functional electronic circuits, optical systems, and photonic crystals. Recently, the application of SA has been expanded to soft, dynamic, and non-equilibrium systems, including programmable molecular systems, active matters, artificial cellular systems, stimuli-responsive polymers, and autonomous microrobots. In this Special Issue, we wish to invite you to contribute research papers, short communications, and review articles related to SA in mesoscale from a wide range of research fields.

Prof. Dr. Hiroaki Suzuki
Prof. Dr. Hiroaki Onoe
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Micromachines is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • static self-assembly
  • dynamic self-assembly
  • non-equilibrium self-assembly
  • self-assembly of soft materials
  • programmable molecular systems
  • active matters
  • artificial cellular systems
  • stimuli-responsive polymers
  • autonomous microrobots

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

10 pages, 3380 KiB  
Communication
Revealing Sources of Variation for Reproducible Imaging of Protein Assemblies by Electron Microscopy
by Ibolya E. Kepiro, Brunello Nardone, Anton Page and Maxim G Ryadnov
Micromachines 2020, 11(3), 251; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi11030251 - 27 Feb 2020
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2543
Abstract
Electron microscopy plays an important role in the analysis of functional nano-to-microstructures. Substrates and staining procedures present common sources of variation for the analysis. However, systematic investigations on the impact of these sources on data interpretation are lacking. Here we pinpoint key determinants [...] Read more.
Electron microscopy plays an important role in the analysis of functional nano-to-microstructures. Substrates and staining procedures present common sources of variation for the analysis. However, systematic investigations on the impact of these sources on data interpretation are lacking. Here we pinpoint key determinants associated with reproducibility issues in the imaging of archetypal protein assemblies, protein shells, and filaments. The effect of staining on the morphological characteristics of the assemblies was assessed to reveal differential features for anisotropic (filaments) and isotropic (shells) forms. Commercial substrates and coatings under the same staining conditions gave comparable results for the same model assembly, while highlighting intrinsic sample variations including the density and heterogenous distribution of assemblies on the substrate surface. With no aberrant or disrupted structures observed, and putative artefacts limited to substrate-associated markings, the study emphasizes that reproducible imaging must correlate with an optimal combination of substrate stability, stain homogeneity, accelerating voltage, and magnification. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Self-Assembly of Microcomponents)
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24 pages, 5843 KiB  
Article
Catalytic Hydrolysis of Phosphate Monoester by Supramolecular Complexes Formed by the Self-Assembly of a Hydrophobic Bis(Zn2+-cyclen) Complex, Copper, and Barbital Units That Are Functionalized with Amino Acids in a Two-Phase Solvent System
by Yuya Miyazawa, Akib Bin Rahman, Yutaka Saga, Hiroki Imafuku, Yosuke Hisamatsu and Shin Aoki
Micromachines 2019, 10(7), 452; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi10070452 - 04 Jul 2019
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2950
Abstract
We previously reported on the preparation of supramolecular complexes by the 2:2:2 assembly of a dinuclear Zn2+-cyclen (cyclen = 1,4,7,10-tetraazacyclododecane) complex having a 2,2′-bipyridyl linker equipped with 0~2 long alkyl chains (Zn2L1~Zn2L3), 5,5-diethylbarbituric [...] Read more.
We previously reported on the preparation of supramolecular complexes by the 2:2:2 assembly of a dinuclear Zn2+-cyclen (cyclen = 1,4,7,10-tetraazacyclododecane) complex having a 2,2′-bipyridyl linker equipped with 0~2 long alkyl chains (Zn2L1~Zn2L3), 5,5-diethylbarbituric acid (Bar) derivatives, and a copper(II) ion (Cu2+) in aqueous solution and two-phase solvent systems and their phosphatase activities for the hydrolysis of mono(4-nitrophenyl) phosphate (MNP). These supermolecules contain Cu2(μ-OH)2 core that mimics the active site of alkaline phosphatase (AP), and one of the ethyl groups of the barbital moiety is located in close proximity to the Cu2(μ-OH)2 core. The generally accepted knowledge that the amino acids around the metal center in the active site of AP play important roles in its hydrolytic activity inspired us to modify the side chain of Bar with various functional groups in an attempt to mimic the active site of AP in the artificial system, especially in two-phase solvent system. In this paper, we report on the design and synthesis of new supramolecular complexes that are prepared by the combined use of bis(Zn2+-cyclen) complexes (Zn2L1, Zn2L2, and Zn2L3), Cu2+, and Bar derivatives containing amino acid residues. We present successful formation of these artificial AP mimics with respect to the kinetics of the MNP hydrolysis obeying Michaelis–Menten scheme in aqueous solution and a two-phase solvent system and to the mode of the product inhibition by inorganic phosphate. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Self-Assembly of Microcomponents)
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9 pages, 2735 KiB  
Article
Assembly of Microparticles to Patterned Trenches Using the Depletion Volume Effect
by Yaoki Mori, Ryota Kawai and Hiroaki Suzuki
Micromachines 2019, 10(7), 428; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi10070428 - 28 Jun 2019
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2125
Abstract
In this paper, we demonstrate that 20 μm microbeads can be preferentially assembled into substrate trenches of similar width by employing a polymer (depletant) that induces the depletion volume effect (depletion attraction). In previous works, we proved that this strategy is useful to [...] Read more.
In this paper, we demonstrate that 20 μm microbeads can be preferentially assembled into substrate trenches of similar width by employing a polymer (depletant) that induces the depletion volume effect (depletion attraction). In previous works, we proved that this strategy is useful to assemble mesoscale parts in a site-specific manner. Here, we show that it is also applicable to assemble functional parts, such as fluorescent particles, into trenches engraved on the surface of two- and three-dimensional template components. A convenient advantage of this strategy is that it is independent of material properties for assembling mesoscale functional components into desired patterns. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Self-Assembly of Microcomponents)
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12 pages, 3157 KiB  
Article
Fabrication, Characterization, and Application of Large-Scale Uniformly Hybrid Nanoparticle-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy Substrates
by Qi Qi, Chunhui Liu, Lintao Liu, Qingyi Meng, Shuhua Wei, Anjie Ming, Jing Zhang, Yanrong Wang, Lidong Wu, Xiaoli Zhu, Feng Wei and Jiang Yan
Micromachines 2019, 10(5), 282; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi10050282 - 27 Apr 2019
Cited by 10 | Viewed by 2947
Abstract
Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) substrates with high sensitivity and reproducibility are highly desirable for high precision and even molecular-level detection applications. Here, large-scale uniformly hybrid nanoparticle-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (NERS) substrates with high reproducibility and controllability were developed. Using oxygen plasma treatment, large-area and [...] Read more.
Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) substrates with high sensitivity and reproducibility are highly desirable for high precision and even molecular-level detection applications. Here, large-scale uniformly hybrid nanoparticle-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (NERS) substrates with high reproducibility and controllability were developed. Using oxygen plasma treatment, large-area and uniformly rough polystyrene sphere (URPS) arrays in conjunction with 20 nm Au films (AuURPS) were fabricated for SERS substrates. Au nanoparticles and clusters covered the surface of the URPS arrays, and this increased the Raman signal. In the detection of malachite green (MG), the fabricated NERS substrates have high reproducibility and sensitivity. The enhancement factor (EF) of Au nanoparticles and clusters was simulated by finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) simulations and the EF was more than 104. The measured EF of our developed substrate was more than 108 with a relative standard deviation as low as 6.64%–13.84% over 15 points on the substrate. The minimum limit for the MG molecules reached 50 ng/mL. Moreover, the Raman signal had a good linear relationship with the logarithmic concentration of MG, as it ranged from 50 ng/mL to 5 μg/mL. The NERS substrates proposed in this work may serve as a promising detection scheme in chemical and biological fields. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Self-Assembly of Microcomponents)
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