Electrically fueled active supramolecular materials, and applications thereof

A method of creating transient, active supramolecular materials, comprising:

• applying an electric potential using a plurality of electrodes to an electrochemical redox reaction network to make active supramolecular materials,
• wherein the electrochemical redox reaction network comprises monomers having redox sensitive motifs, a first electrocatalyst comprising ferrocyanide, and a second electrocatalyst comprising a viologen, wherein the first electrocatalyst catalyzes the oxidation of the redox sensitive motifs which converts the monomers into self-assembling building blocks that self-assemble into active supramolecular materials, and
• turning off the electric potential to the electrochemical redox reaction network to create an open circuit condition, wherein the second electrocatalyst catalyzes the reduction of the redox sensitive motifs causing the active supramolecular materials to dissemble into monomers,
• wherein creating the transient, active supramolecular materials does not generate any electrical waste products.