Self-Assembly of an Operating Electrical Circuit Based on Shape Complementarity and the Hydrophobic Effect

The biomimetic self-assembly of an operating electrical circuit is described. The circuit, self-assembled via the hydrophobic effect from two different, but shape-complementary, non-functional subunits, contains a light-emitting diode (LED), a gold cathode, and a magnesium anode. It is shown that the system, when immersed in a suitable electrolyte (potassium ferricyanide), constitutes an electrochemical cell—the LED is powered through a reaction involving the dissolution of magnesium(0) at the anode and the reduction of ferricyanide to ferrocyanide at the cathode.