Weak aggregation: State of the art, expectations and open questions

Abstract

This paper gives an overview of weak aggregation due to long-range molecular forces beyond the first neighbor. Such subtle self-assemblies are an important part of modern colloidal chemistry and concern organic molecules as well as inorganic electrolytes and hybrid aggregates. Diverse aspects of such colloidal aggregations, as described in this special issue, can be characterized by the effective free energy per molecule involved. We discuss here expectations about emerging knowledge in this field and predictive modeling of inorganic as well as organic colloids and hybrid aggregates. Some still open questions are also given.