Advances in Amphiphilic Assemblies and Its Immobilization in Room Temperature Supercooled Matrices

Equilibrium nanostructures such as micelles are formed by the assembly of small amphiphilic molecules in appropriate solvents. Nature employs such a self-assembly process to create macroscopic objects with diverse micro/mesoscale structures. Micelles are one of the primitive self-assembling structures formed by amphiphiles in water. The interplay of various attractive and repulsive forces between amphiphiles leads to the formation of such equilibrium structures. The microstructure and interfacial characteristics of micelles can be conveniently tuned by the choice of amphiphiles, additives, etc. Micelles find extensive applications in a variety of products that we use in our everyday life. Control over the structure of these aggregates and macroscopic properties is important to fine-tune them for industrial applications. Owing to the colloidal nature, micelles undergo random Brownian motion in conventional solvents. Immobilization of such colloidal assemblies in selected solvents can be achieved by exploiting room temperature supercooled solvents as a matrix for self-assembly. This review summarizes the basic principles of self-assembly to form micelles and related structures, its application in diverse fields including drug delivery and recent developments in creating immobilized nanoscale assemblies.