Nature exploits self-organization of multiple materials to produce biopolymer fibers, cell membranes, the flagellar motor, viruses, hard tissue and other multiple-scale organic–inorganic hybrid structures in many ways. Self-assembly is one of the forces behind the bottom-up construction of well-ordered structures at the nanometer scale. It typically occurs through reversible interactions that slowly arrange building blocks into the most thermodynamically favored structure, which is the fundamental process, and generates structural organization across scales.¹  This process relies on molecular recognition between building blocks through noncovalent interactions, such as van der Waals and electrostatic forces, hydrogen bonding and π–π stacking, which provide...