Self-assembly as a route to fibrous materials: concepts, opportunities and challenges

This contribution illustrates the breadth of context from which lessons for fibre self-assembly are being learned, and the breadth of context in which those lessons can be applied. It is a plea for interdisciplinarity, written to reflect themes and concerns that emerged from discussions nucleated at a EuroConference on Self-Assembling Fibrous Materials (Bad Herrenalb, Germany, September 2002). Many of the discussions (formal and informal) occurred at the meeting, some are ongoing via e-mail and telephone, and some will take more than a lifetime to resolve. Summarized here are principles that pertain to self-assembly in general and fibrous self-assembly in particular, directions in which relevant studies are (or perhaps should be) headed, and limitations that must be recognized.