Molecular engineering

Molecular engineering was first mentioned in the research literature in 1956 by Arthur R. von Hippel, who defined it as "… a new mode of thinking about engineering problems. Instead of taking prefabricated materials and trying to devise engineering applications consistent with their macroscopic properties, one builds materials from their atoms and molecules for the purpose at hand." This concept was echoed in Richard Feynman's seminal 1959 lecture ''There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom, which is widely regarded as giving birth to some of the fundamental ideas of the field of nanotechnology. In spite of the early introduction of these concepts, it was not until the mid-1980s with the publication of Engines of Creation: The Coming Era of Nanotechnology'' by Drexler that the modern concepts of nano and molecular-scale science began to grow in the public consciousness. The discovery of electrically conductive properties in polyacetylene by Alan J. Heeger in 1977 effectively opened the field of organic electronics, which has proved foundational for many molecular engineering efforts. Design and optimization of these materials has led to a number of innovations including organic light-emitting diodes and flexible solar cells. ==Applications==

Molecular design has been an important element of many disciplines in academia, including bioengineering, chemical engineering, electrical engineering, materials science, mechanical engineering and chemistry. However, one of the ongoing challenges is in bringing together the critical mass of manpower amongst disciplines to span the realm from design theory to materials production, and from device design to product development. Thus, while the concept of rational engineering of technology from the bottom-up is not new, it is still far from being widely translated into R&D efforts. Molecular engineering is used in many industries. Some applications of technologies where molecular engineering plays a critical role: Consumer Products • Antibiotic surfaces (e.g. incorporation of silver nanoparticles or antibacterial peptides into coatings to prevent microbial infection) • Cosmetics (e.g. rheological modification with small molecules and surfactants in shampoo) • Cleaning products (e.g. nanosilver in laundry detergent) • Consumer electronics (e.g. organic light-emitting diode displays (OLED)) • Electrochromic windows (e.g. windows in the Boeing 787 Dreamliner) • Zero emission vehicles (e.g. advanced fuel cells/batteries) • Self-cleaning surfaces (e.g. super hydrophobic surface coatings) === Energy Harvesting and Storage === • Flow batteries - Synthesizing molecules for high-energy density electrolytes and highly-selective membranes in grid-scale energy storage systems. • Lithium-ion batteries - Creating new molecules for use as electrode binders, electrolytes, electrolyte additives, or even for energy storage directly in order to improve energy density (using materials such as graphene, silicon nanorods, and lithium metal), power density, cycle life, and safety. • Solar cells - Developing new materials for more efficient and cost-effective solar cells including organic, quantum dot or perovskite-based photovoltaics. • Photocatalytic water splitting - Enhancing the production of hydrogen fuel using solar energy and advanced catalytic materials such as semiconductor nanoparticles Environmental Engineering • Water desalination (e.g. new membranes for highly-efficient low-cost ion removal) • Soil remediation (e.g. catalytic nanoparticles that accelerate the degradation of long-lived soil contaminants such as chlorinated organic compounds) • Carbon sequestration (e.g. new materials for CO2 adsorption) === Immunotherapy === • Peptide-based vaccines (e.g. amphiphilic peptide macromolecular assemblies induce a robust immune response) • Peptide-containing biopharmaceuticals (e.g. nanoparticles, liposomes, polyelectrolyte micelles as delivery vehicles) === Synthetic Biology === • CRISPR - Faster and more efficient gene editing technique • Gene delivery/gene therapy - Designing molecules to deliver modified or new genes into cells of live organisms to cure genetic disorders • Metabolic engineering - Modifying metabolism of organisms to optimize production of chemicals (e.g. synthetic genomics) • Protein engineering - Altering structure of existing proteins to enable specific new functions, or the creation of fully artificial proteins • DNA-functionalized materials - 3D assemblies of DNA-conjugated nanoparticle lattices == Techniques and instruments used ==

Molecular engineers utilize sophisticated tools and instruments to make and analyze the interactions of molecules and the surfaces of materials at the molecular and nano-scale. The growing complexity of surface-bound molecular systems has driven the development of increasingly refined surface analysis methods. In parallel, advances in high-performance computing have enabled wider use of computational modeling and simulation in the investigation of molecular-scale systems. Computational and Theoretical Approaches • Computational chemistry • High performance computing • Molecular dynamics • Molecular modeling • Statistical mechanics • Theoretical chemistry • Topology Microscopy • Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) • Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) • Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) Molecular Characterization • Dynamic light scattering (DLS) • Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) spectrocosopy • Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy • Size exclusion chromatography (SEC) Spectroscopy • Ellipsometry • 2D X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) • Raman Spectroscopy/Microscopy Surface Science • Glow Discharge Optical Emission Spectrometry • Time of Flight-Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (ToF-SIMS) • X-Ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) Synthetic Methods • DNA synthesis • Nanoparticle synthesis • Organic synthesis • Peptide synthesis • Polymer synthesis Other Tools • Focused Ion Beam (FIB) • Profilometer • UV Photoelectron Spectroscopy (UPS) • Vibrational Sum Frequency Generation == Research / Education ==

At least three universities offer graduate degrees dedicated to molecular engineering: the University of Chicago, the University of Washington, and Kyoto University. These programs are interdisciplinary institutes with faculty from several research areas. The academic journal Molecular Systems Design & Engineering publishes research from a wide variety of subject areas that demonstrates "a molecular design or optimisation strategy targeting specific systems functionality and performance." ==See also==