Complex new structures that assemble themselves from combinations of semiconducting, metallic or magnetic nanoscale particles promise to have either the combined valuable traits of their ingredients or possess entirely new useful properties.

For example, structures that pair two different semiconductors “can be employed for new generation of solar cells and thermoelectric devices,” explained researcher Dmitri Talapin, a materials scientist formerly with IBM and now at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley, Calif., while combinations of magnetic and semiconducting nanoparticles “are promising for magneto-optic data storage and spintronic devices.”