Prof. Liang Haojun from the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) proposed a new method to escape from metastability for self-assembly in a far-from-equilibrium system. The study was published in PNAS. Self-assembly refers to the process in which assembled primitive elements (molecules, nanoparticles, etc.) spontaneously form ordered structures through non-covalent interactions. Its excellent capacity to create new materials has drawn attention. In an ideal assembly process, the system will reach a thermodynamically stable state with the lowest free energy and form a high-quality assembly structure. However, for the assembly system far...