Self-assembly is an essential process in nature and important in the field of material science, biology and chemistry. Study on self-assembly has lasted for more than 100 years and has resulted in the emergence of many specific research areas, such as marriage of self-assembly to the burgeoning aggregation-induced emission (AIE). Thanks to their fascinating photophysical properties, AIE luminogens (AIEgens) have shown great potential in this area. In this review, we mainly highlight recent advances in monocomponent self-assembly of AIEgens, including self-assembly of amphiphilic AIEgens and chiral AIEgens, host–guest interaction and their applications in circularly-polarized luminescence and light-harvesting platform. Due to the AIE effect, functional AIEgens possess inherent advantage to visualize the fine process of self-assembly. Moreover, attention is also given to well-defined architectures, such as spherical vesicles, helical nanostructures, and nanofibers obtained through self-assembly of AIEgens. The present review may entice readers to realize the importance of self-assembly and attract much more chemists to give their contribution to this area.

自组装是自然界中必不可少的过程，在材料科学，生物学和化学领域中很重要。自组装研究已经持续了100多年，并且导致了许多特定的研究领域的出现，例如自组装与新兴的聚集诱导发射（AIE）的结合。由于其引人入胜的光物理特性，AIE发光剂（AIEgens）在这一领域已显示出巨大的潜力。在这篇综述中，我们主要着重介绍AIEgens单组分自组装的最新进展，包括两亲性AIEgens和手性AIEgens的自组装，宿主与客体的相互作用及其在圆偏振发光和光收集平台中的应用。由于AIE效应，功能性AIEgen具有固有的优势，可以可视化自组装的精细过程。而且，还应注意定义明确的体系结构，例如球形囊泡，螺旋纳米结构和通过AIEgens自组装获得的纳米纤维。本综述可能会吸引读者认识到自组装的重要性，并吸引更多的化学家为这一领域做出贡献。