Self-Assembly of Metal Nanoparticles, an Important Process to the Development of New Nanostructured Materials and Devices

The growing interest of researchers in the development of nanomaterials can be measured by the large number of articles and patents that have been published in recent years. In particular, inorganic, organic or even hybrid nanoparticles of different sizes and shapes are already synthesized in a very controlled manner and without very elaborated experimental conditions. However, despite the advances, much work remains to be done on the use of nanoparticles as building blocks for the generation of new nanostructured materials and devices. Actual manipulation of nanoparticles for the construction of a particular device has many limits and usually requires high cost and high technology equipment. However, a promising strategy that can lead to the formation of nanostructured arrangements in a very controlled manner is based on nanoparticle self-assembly processes. Directed particle self- assembly can be described as a planned, controlled and organized aggregation of the particles to obtain a specific particles arrangement or device. Self-assembling material not only serves to generate a structure itself, but also to achieve unique chemical and physical properties in the material that arise only due to the arrangement and interactions between the nanoparticulates. Due to the importance of this subject for the development of nanotechnology products, this article shows, through a broad and generalized approach, some of the most common methods found in the specialized literature about self- assembling of metallic nanoparticles.