Synthesis and applications of self-assembled nanostructured gel materials

Abstract

A semi-solid material with the viscoelastic behavior and properties of both solid and liquid materials is known as gel. Gels are a vital part of soft materials, showing several applications in recently advanced fields. The basic unit of gel is gelator molecules. Gels can be formed by high molecular weight (HMW) or low molecular weight (LMW, M<3000 Da) gelator components. The supramolecular gel is a significant area of research in today's material chemistry. The formation of gels is greatly influenced by the self-assembly of low-molecular-weight gelators (LMWGs) in a proper solvent forming a 3D network. Gels are a central research point under soft materials due to their susceptibility to chemical stimuli like temperature, light, pH, and other chemical entities. Based on the previous research reports, to design a prospective gelator molecule incorporations of specific functional groups viz. carboxylic acid, carboxamide, amine, alcohol, pyridine, tetrazole, imidazole, nitrile, and aromatics ring in the structure are found to be crucial. These entities can provide the sites for non-covalent interactions, like π-π interactions, hydrogen bonding interactions, van der Waals forces, intercolumnar stacking, etc., which are crucial for gel formation. It is impossible to confirm the gelation behavior of any molecule or gelator without its experimental analysis. Therefore, experimentally, the fabrication of a gel by a gelator molecule is supposed to be investigated to confirm such a process.