Artificial Topological Nanostructures: Strategies for Design, Manufacturing, and Biomedical Applications

The rational design of nanoscale architectures with well-defined and nontrivial topologies has emerged as an important direction in materials science for regulating structure-dependent physicochemical and biological functions. However, a focused framework centered on artificial topological nanostructures (ATNs) remains underdeveloped. In this review, we focus on ATNs, a class of engineered nanosystems in which global connectivity and deformation-invariant topology serve as design parameters beyond composition and morphology. Compared with conventional nanostructured materials, ATNs represent a topology-driven design paradigm enabling controllable structural organization at the nanoscale. We summarize recent progress in ATNs featuring representative motifs such as Möbius strips, trefoil knots, and interlocked rings, highlighting how topology governs structural stability and function. Emphasis is placed on topology as the central organizing principle of structure-function relationships in ATNs. Key design principles and assembly strategies are discussed across reticular frameworks, peptide and nucleic acid-based systems, and soft-matter assemblies, focusing on programmable encoding of topological states. We further highlight fabrication strategies and emerging biomedical applications in nanomedicine, where topology-dependent properties enhance performance. Finally, we outline key challenges in scalable synthesis, quantitative topology function relationships, and biological translation, and discuss future opportunities for establishing topology as a unifying design paradigm for functional nanomaterials.