Polymer self-assembly in carbon dioxide

The foreseeable future should find carbon dioxide used in an ever-increasing number of industrial applications, from materials production to lithography. Many such processes will involve the use of amphiphilic compounds, which have greatly enhanced the versatility and potential of CO2 as a solvent. In a relatively short period of time, research on the self-assembly of amphiphilic polymers in CO2 has undergone remarkable maturation. The growth is largely due to strong fundamental and practical interest, as well as a cache of techniques available to characterize the self-assembly process. This article serves to summarize what has thus far been discovered about polymer self-assembly in CO2, what needs further examination, and where the field is headed.