The Statistical Mechanics of Dynamic Pathways to Self-Assembly

This review describes some important physical characteristics of the pathways (i.e., dynamical processes) by which molecular, nanoscale, and micrometer-scale self-assembly occurs. We highlight the existence of features of self-assembly pathways that are common to a wide range of physical systems, even though those systems may differ with respect to their microscopic details. We summarize some existing theoretical descriptions of self-assembly pathways and highlight areas—notably, the description of self-assembly pathways that occur far from equilibrium—that are likely to become increasingly important.