Synthesis, Self-Assembly, Graph Theory, and Applications of Complex Nanoparticle Systems

Abstract

The engineering of nanoparticles and their assemblies has traditionally focused on creating highly periodic systems with properties that match predictions of well-defined scientific models. This review surveys recent efforts to expand the engineering of nanoparticles and their assemblies into the realm of high complexity, which can entail disorder or combinations of order and disorder. This review is structured, for clarity of reading, to cover three aspects of complexity: in individual nanoparticles, in assembly structures, and in assembly manufacturing strategies, with the awareness that these three aspects are intertwined, leading to a huge parameter space to manufacture new functional materials. This review charts a roadmap for harnessing nonperiodic, multiscale, and even polydisperse yet economically desirable nanoparticle architectures to achieve transformative properties, especially the balance of properties important in different technological applications such as strength, transparency, and recyclability, at large scale, low cost, and high modularity, to address critical challenges across materials science and technology.