Complexity, Disorder, and Functionality of Nanoscale Materials

TL;DR

This review explores the complexity of nanoscale materials, focusing on their structures, characterization methods, synthesis approaches, and potential applications, highlighting their multifunctionality and relevance to future material design.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of complexity in nanoscale materials, integrating concepts, methodologies, and future perspectives for engineering multifunctional nanomaterials.

Findings

Complex structures enhance material functionality.

Various methods exist to characterize nanoscale complexity.

Potential applications include sustainable and bio-inspired materials.

Abstract

Nature hosts a wealth of materials showcasing intricate structures intertwining order, disorder, and hierarchy, delivering resilient multifunctionality surpassing perfect crystals or simplistic disordered materials. The engineering of such materials through nanoparticle assembly represents a burgeoning field, poised with potential to yield sustainable material systems rivaling or exceeding biological functionalities. This review delineates the fundamental concept of complexity in the context of nanoscale materials. It examines methodologies for characterizing complexity and functionality, explores pragmatic approaches to create complex nanomaterials, and offers a perspective on their potential applications, guiding the trajectory of future research endeavors.