Colloidal Self-Assembly of Inorganic Nanocrystals into Superlattice Thin-Films and Multiscale Nanostructures

The self-assembly of colloidal inorganic nanocrystals (NCs) offers tremendous potential for the design of solution-processed multi-functional inorganic thin-films or nanostructures. To date, the self-assembly of various inorganic NCs, such as plasmonic metal, metal oxide, quantum dots, magnetics, and dielectrics, are reported to form single, binary, and even ternary superlattices with long-range orientational and positional order over a large area. In addition, the controlled coupling between NC building blocks in the highly ordered superlattices gives rise to novel collective properties, providing unique optical, magnetic, electronic, and catalytic properties. In this review, we introduce the self-assembly of inorganic NCs and the experimental process to form single and multicomponent superlattices, and we also describe the fabrication of multiscale NC superlattices with anisotropic NC building blocks, thin-film patterning, and the supracrystal formation of superlattice structures.