Abstract:
Nature has continuously amaze material scientists with her ability to create
intelligent living things using techniques of self-assembly.[1] Nature provides many
examples of complex, highly organised self-assembled structures.[1] For instance,
bird homing ability of migratory birds (including homing pigeons, domestic
chickens) also guided by magnetic nanoparticle (NP) assemblies found in the upper
beak skin of this birds.[1] Also assembled magnetic nanoparticles found in the nasal
capsule of sea salmon is sensitive to the geomagnetic field and help in guiding their
journeys in the endless ocean.[1] Inspired from this natural instance, material
scientists (including nanomaterial scientists) have also tried to developed several
assembly processes to create artificial smart materials.[2,3,4,5] Nanoparticle
assemblies exhibit physical and chemical properties, which are different from those
of both individual nanoparticles and their bulk aggregates.
