In materials processing, the sol–gel method is one of the techniques that has enabled large-scale production at low cost in the past few decades. The versatility of the method has been proven as the fabrication of various materials ranging from metallic, inorganic, organic, and hybrid has been reported. In this review, a brief introduction of the sol–gel technique is provided and followed by a discussion of the significance of this method for materials processing and development leading to the creation of novel materials through sol–gel derived coatings. The controlled modification of sol–gel derived coatings and their respective applications are also described. Finally, current development and the outlook of the sol–gel method for the design and fabrication of nanomaterials in various fields are described. The emphasis is on the significant potential of the sol–gel method for the development of new, emerging technologies.

This work reports on a novel controlled nanocomposite fabrication technique which is applicable for material design via a micro- and nano-assembly method. The principle is based on the use of electrostatic adsorption of the surface charge-modified particles via layer-by-layer assembly. The polarity and the zeta potential of the surface charge was controlled using polycation and polyanion, while the zeta potential strength was controlled via the number of alternating coating layers which was determined using zeta potential measurement. A systematic study was conducted to demonstrate the feasibility of composite material assembly via electrostatic adsorption using alumina (Al2O3) and silica (SiO2) composite as a study model, which was carried out as a function of surface zeta potential, surface coverage percentage, and processing time. The considerable potential of this technique for composite material design is also further demonstrated with controlled assembly involving different materials in various structural forms such as fiber, whisker, nanosheets, and even irregular-shaped foam-like structured urethane. The composite materials designed using this EA method possess good potentials to be utilized for various applications such as mechanical property control, composite ceramic films formation, selective laser sintering, and rechargeable metal-air battery.

Dye-sensitized solar cells composed of a photoanode of Ag nanoparticle (NP)-deposited TiO2 nanotube (TNT) arrays were fabricated. The TNT arrays were prepa

Electrostatic assembly is one of the bottom–up approaches used for multiscale composite fabrication. Since its discovery, this method has been actively used in molecular bioscience as well as materials design and fabrication for various applications. Despite the recent advances and controlled assembly reported using electrostatic interaction, the method still possesses vast potentials for various materials design and fabrication. This review article is a timely revisit of the electrostatic assembly method with a brief introduction of the method followed by surveys of recent advances and applications of the composites fabricated. Emphasis is also given to the significant potential of this method for advanced materials and composite fabrication in line with sustainable development goals. Prospective outlook and future developments for micro-/nanocomposite materials fabrication for emerging applications such as energy-related fields and additive manufacturing are also mentioned.