Molecular Engineering of Colloidal Atoms.

Creation of architectures with exquisite hierarchies actuates the germination of revolutionized functions and applications across a wide range of fields. Hierarchical self-assembly of colloidal particles holds the promise for materialized realization of structural programing and customizing. This review outlines the general approaches to organize atom-like micro- and nanoparticles into prescribed colloidal analogs of molecules by exploiting diverse interparticle driving motifs involving confining templates, interactive surface ligands, and flexible shape/surface anisotropy. Furthermore, the self-regulated/adaptive co-assembly of simple unvarnished building blocks is discussed to inspire new designs of colloidal assembly strategies.