Molecularly organised films are of interest in many areas such as integrated optics, sensors, friction-reducing coatings, biotechnology and in daily life products in the areas of personal and household care. Bottom-up approaches are today undergoing an exponential growth in both fundamental and applied research and they represent a viable alternative or, better a complement, to more traditional top down ones. The following topics will be highlighted:


Multilayer assemblies
• Polyelectrolyte and biopolymer multilayers
• Multilayer assemblies for biospecific recognition
• Surface functionalization by chemical variations of the adsorbed molecules
• Controlling the molecular architecture

Polymer-surfactant association at interfaces
• Trapped non-equilibrium states
• Internal organization at polymer-surfactant complexes
• Controlled deposition
• Adsorption of preformed complexes

Bottom-up approach in Nanotechnology
• Self assembled monolayers
• Surface engineering via self-assembly
• Combination of top-down and bottom-up approaches