Gold Nanorod Assemblies: Large Area Self‐Assembly of Nematic Liquid‐Crystal‐Functionalized Gold Nanorods (Adv. Funct. Mater. 11/2013)

An exceptionally effective and versatile method for the reconfigurable self-assembly of gold nanorods is presented by Torsten Hegmann and co-workers on page 1393. Nematic- and smectic-type self-organization of gold nanorods with an aspect ratio of around four is provided by the functionalization with a nematogenic liquid crystal ligand in either an end-on or a side-on fashion. The final arrays of nanorods can be reoriented by the application of a magnetic field. Image design by T. Hegmann.