ABSTRACT
This chapter presents available self-assembly strategies allowing to make actual, usable-in-practice materials out of the individual objects, either by directly stacking them into ordered superstructures or by embedding them into a host-matrix serving as a template. Self-assembly is actually a common and highly efficient process well known in soft condensed matter physics. The quality of the ordering resulting from self-assembly is indeed generally strongly affected by the polydispersity of the individual units. The chapter reviews a number of techniques from the field of nanochemistry that allow to tailor the shape and architecture of complex nanoparticles. It demonstrates that the degree of control achievable makes it conceivable to synthesize a vast array of nano-objects, some of which may be suitable for creating the local resonant electromagnetic response required in metamaterials. The chapter provides some of the techniques and methods that permit today the fabrication, via chemical synthesis, of increasingly complex nano-objects and nanoparticles.
