How to steer active colloids up a vertical wall.

An important challenge in active matter lies in harnessing useful global work from entities that produce work locally, e.g., via self-propulsion.

Electron-Triggered Metamorphism in Palladium-Driven Self-Assembled Architectures.

A metal-induced self-assembly strategy is used to promote the π-dimerization of viologen-based radicals at room temperature and in standard concentration ranges. Discrete box-shaped 2:2 (M:L) macrocycles or coordination polymers are formed in solution by self-assembly of a viologen-based ditopic ligand with -[Pd(en)(NO)], -[Pd(CHCN)(Cl)], or [Pd(CHCN)(BF)]. Changing the redox state of the bipyridium units involved in the tectons, from their dicationic state to their radical cation state, results in a reversible "inflation/deflation" of the discrete 2:2 (M:L) macrocyclic assemblies associated to a large modification in the size of their inner cavity.