A support for prospective nanomaterials

In the early 1990s, scanning probe microscopy was empowering researchers to view nanoscale features, previously the domain of imaginative theorists. Such images undoubtedly sparked the imagination and goaded researchers into ever more creative endeavours to understand nanoscale systems. At the same time, reports on molecular self-assembly were revolutionizing the philosophy behind how such systems could be produced, and promoting genuine bottom-up fabrication technology. The nanoworld was not only available to be gazed at and probed, but could be recreated by imposing the right conditions for the self assembly of complex and controlled structures.