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Topic · Biomaterials

Supramolecular Self-Assembly in Materials

Supramolecular Self-Assembly in Materials is a research topic within Biomaterials. Science Explorer counts 24k research works in it since 1950. 9.9% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers focuses on the self-assembly of molecules at various scales to create biomaterials, nanofibers, hydrogels, and nanostructures with applications in regenerative medicine, tissue engineering, drug delivery, and nanotechnology. The research explores the design, fabrication, and functionalization of supramolecular materials through molecular gelation and the formation of peptide amphiphiles and nanotubes.

  • Self-Assembly
  • Supramolecular
  • Nanofibers
  • Peptide Amphiphiles
  • Hydrogels
  • Nanostructures
  • Biomaterials
  • Organogels
  • Molecular Gelation
  • Nanotubes
Research works
24k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
2.4k
per year above
Top-10% rate
9.9%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+3%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
China
45% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Supramolecular Self-Assembly in Materials

Which countries lead Supramolecular Self-Assembly in Materials research?

By volume, China and the United States publish the most (2.2k and 683 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 China 2.2k works
  2. 2 United States 683 works
  3. 3 India 607 works
  4. 4 Japan 366 works
  5. 5 Germany 223 works
  6. 6 United Kingdom 190 works
  7. 7 France 188 works
  8. 8 South Korea 136 works
  9. 9 Italy 135 works
  10. 10 Spain 135 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

China: 44.7%United States: 14.2%India: 12.6%Japan: 7.6%6 others listed: 20.9%45%largest
China2,155 · 44.7%United States683 · 14.2%India607 · 12.6%Japan366 · 7.6%6 others listed1,007 · 20.9%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead Supramolecular Self-Assembly in Materials research?

By volume in 2022-now, Chinese Academy of Sciences publishes the most Supramolecular Self-Assembly in Materials research, followed by Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique and Shanghai Jiao Tong University.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 137 works
  2. 2 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 100 works
  3. 3 Shanghai Jiao Tong UniversityChina 53 works
  4. 4 Jilin UniversityChina 47 works
  5. 5 Sichuan UniversityChina 46 works
  6. 6 East China University of Science and TechnologyChina 44 works
  7. 7 Shandong UniversityChina 42 works
  8. 8 Nankai UniversityChina 41 works
  9. 9 Fudan UniversityChina 35 works
  10. 10 Russian Academy of SciencesRussia 34 works

Who are the leading researchers in Supramolecular Self-Assembly in Materials?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Supramolecular Self-Assembly in Materials include Zhong Lin Wang, Róbert Langer and George M. Whitesides.

  1. 1 Zhong Lin Wang United States 491k citations
  2. 2 Róbert Langer United States 303k citations
  3. 3 George M. Whitesides United States 267k citations
  4. 4 Wei Huang China 267k citations
  5. 5 Yi Ping Cui United States 261k citations
  6. 6 Ben Zhong Tang China 261k citations
  7. 7 Xiaogang Wang China 260k citations
  8. 8 Omar M. Yaghi United States 254k citations
  9. 9 Kaj Blennow Sweden 247k citations
  10. 10 Dennis W. Dickson United States 237k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

What are the most cited papers in Supramolecular Self-Assembly in Materials?

The most cited paper in Supramolecular Self-Assembly in Materials is "Self-Assembly at All Scales" (George M. Whitesides, Bartosz A. Grzybowski, 2002), with 7,462 citations. Next come "Aggregation-induced emission" (6,364) and "Synthetic biomaterials as instructive extracellular microenvironments for morphogenesis in tissue engineering" (4,561).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Self-Assembly at All Scales George M. Whitesides, Bartosz A. Grzybowski · Science 29 Mar 2002 7,462
2 Aggregation-induced emission Yuning Hong, Jacky W. Y. Lam, Ben Zhong Tang · Chemical Society Reviews ReviewOpen access 2011 6,364
3 Synthetic biomaterials as instructive extracellular microenvironments for morphogenesis in tissue engineering Matthias P. Lütolf, Jeffrey A. Hubbell · Nature Biotechnology Open access 2005 4,561
4 Aggregation-induced emission: phenomenon, mechanism and applications Yuning Hong, Jacky W. Y. Lam, Ben Zhong Tang · Chemical Communications 2009 4,105
5 Hydrogels in Biology and Medicine: From Molecular Principles to Bionanotechnology Nikolaos A. Peppas, J. Zach Hilt, Ali Khademhosseini et al. · Advanced Materials 29 May 2006 4,090
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Supramolecular Self-Assembly in Materials research done?

The largest centres of Supramolecular Self-Assembly in Materials research in 2022-now are Beijing (China), Shanghai (China), Tianjin (China) and Tokyo (Japan). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Eindhoven and Kolkata.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 BeijingChina 316 works
  2. 2 ShanghaiChina 236 works
  3. 3 TianjinChina 101 works
  4. 4 TokyoJapan 97 works
  5. 5 HangzhouChina 93 works
  6. 6 NanjingChina 89 works
  7. 7 KolkataIndia 81 works
  8. 8 GuangzhouChina 73 works
  9. 9 WuhanChina 73 works
  10. 10 Xi'anChina 72 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. EindhovenNL · 20.5 works8.1×
  2. KolkataIN · 81.0 works7.0×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Supramolecular Self-Assembly in Materials than the world average.

See Supramolecular Self-Assembly in Materials on the map

Where is the best place to study Supramolecular Self-Assembly in Materials?

Among universities, judged by research, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, East China University of Science and Technology and Westlake University score highest, combining excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%10%20%30%mean 19.93%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Westlake UniversityNankai UniversityShanghai Jiao Tong U…East China Universit…
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the first ten of the table below, at the default weights. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

Excellenceshare of its work in the world top 10%, 2022-now and all time averaged
40%
Specialisationhow much of its work is in this field, counted up to 10× the world share
10%
Sizeits output in this field, on a log scale
30%
Growthoutput growth, counted from -20% to +20%
10%
Internationalshare of its work with a co-author abroad
10%
Each slider sets a weight; the share it gets of the score is beside it.
#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1Shanghai Jiao Tong UniversityChina 74.718.6%3.7×54 +39.0%
2East China University of Science and TechnologyChina 73.418.3%18.0×44 +22.0%
3Westlake UniversityChina 66.020.5%19.0×12 +262.4%
4Nankai UniversityChina 64.719.0%11.9×41 -9.8%
5University of GroningenNetherlands 64.524.2%4.5×15 -1.5%
6Sichuan UniversityChina 63.614.2%4.1×46 +51.9%
7University of Science and Technology of ChinaChina 62.422.1%3.8×23 +38.1%
8Jilin UniversityChina 62.316.3%8.2×47 -3.9%
9University of Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 62.118.7%4.2×34 -11.8%
10University of CambridgeUnited Kingdom 60.327.4%2.6×16 -30.9%

Universities only. The score blends excellence (40%), size (30%), specialisation (10%), growth (10%), international reach (10%), 2022-now; growth compares 2018-21 with 2022-25 and counts up to +20%, since a jump from a small base is mostly noise.

Every institution in Supramolecular Self-Assembly in Materials, country by country

Is Supramolecular Self-Assembly in Materials research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 3% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Supramolecular Self-Assembly in Materials.

still counting19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon: one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Its share of all research

Growing output can still be a shrinking share: all of science grows. This is Supramolecular Self-Assembly in Materials as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.023% in 2024.

still counting0.010%0.020%0.030%Supramolecular Self-Assembly in Materials0.025% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Supramolecular Self-Assembly in Materials over all fractional works that year. How the balance of science has shifted.

How much of it reaches the world top 10%

Year by year.

still counting5%10%15%Supramolecular Self-Assembly in Materials9.8% in 2025200020102020

Of each year's works in it, the share that reached the world's 10% most cited for their field and year. A field is the world for its own topics, so there is no other line to hold it against.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.

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