Exploiting Hydrophobic Interactions at the Nanoscale

Hydrophobic effects are ubiquitous and manifest themselves in everyday processes such as solubilizing oil, precipitating molecules, and formation of particles or foam. Although this phenomenon is often intuitively recognized, it is not straightforward to predict it and, in particular, to control it experimentally. Hydrophobic effects are however progressively gaining recognition as an important tool providing control at the nanoscale, which may ultimately lead to the design of responsive metamaterials with unprecedented functionalities under nonequilibrium conditions.