Methods of organization at nanoscale belong to the key problems that transcend different areas of nanotechnology. Self-organization phenomena can be regarded as convenient tools to obtain intricate nanoscale systems with a variety of potential functionalities, such as optical, electrical, thermal transport properties. In this presentation, I will review self-organization phenomena taking place with semiconductor nanocolloids starting with supercrystals from nearly spherical nanoparticles [1] and nanoparticle bioconjugates [2] to 1D [3] and 2D assemblies [4]. Comparison of the processes in solution of CdTe and other nanocolloids reveals a number of surprising similarities with processes in proteins. The conclusion that will be reached that this is the result of fundamental analogy in the scales between proteins and nanoparticles.

References:
1. Shevchenko, Elena V.; Talapin, Dmitri V.; Kotov, Nicholas A.; O'Brien, Stephen; Murray, Christopher B. Structural diversity in binary nanoparticle superlattices. Nature 2006, 439(7072), 55-59;
2. Mamedova,N. N.; Kotov, N.A.; Rogach, A. L.; Studer J.; Protein - CdTe Nanoparticle Conjugates: Preparation, Structure And Interunit Energy Transfer, Nano Letters, 2001, 1(6), 281-286;
3. Tang, Z,; Kotov, N. A.; Giersig, M.; Spontaneous Organization of Single CdTe Nanoparticles Into Luminescent Nanowires, Science, 2002, 297 (5579), 237-240;
4. Tang, Z. Y.; Zhang, Z. L.; Wang, Y. W. Glotzer, S.; Kotov, N. A. Self-Assembly of CdTe Nanocrystals Into Free-Floating Sheets; Science, 2006, in press.