Rectifying Self-Assembled Ultrathin Films

“Soft solution processing” is rapidly becoming a viable approach for the fabrication of advanced nanostructured materials. It involves the use of environmentally friendly chemicals and preparation methods with minimum energy input. Construction of ultrathin films by the room-temperature, layer-by-layer self-assembly of dilute aqueous solutions (or dispersions) of polyelectrolytes (or polymers), nanoparticles, and nanoplatelets is clearly soft solution processing (see the articles by Yoshimura et al. in this issue).