Self-assembly driven superstructures in nanotechnology: emergent phenomena, characterization and applications

Owing to their marvelous assembly processes, simple building blocks ranging from molecules to different nanostructures, can form complex, ordered, hierarchical functional structures through local interactions. Such bottom-up assembly processes can be either spontaneous or driven by some external stimuli, such as solvent evaporation, optical, electric and magnetic fields, temperature gradient, chemical reaction, mechanical stress, or fluid flow. Understanding the hierarchical organization and assembly pathways of self-assembled superstructures is essential for rationalizing their emergent physicochemical properties, functionalities, and diverse applications. In this review, we focus on the governing interactions, formation pathways, structural characterization and applications of this important class of materials in a wide range of domains and also touch upon the challenges associated with understanding of complex hierarchical structures, their properties, characterization of the transient assembly states and simultaneous characterization methods.