Title screen

Hierarchical self-assembling of materials represents one of the most appealing subjects in nanoscience, since bottom-up strategies allow for tailor-made synthesis of functional structures in commodities as well as in living systems. Herein we show that nanorings of ca. 10nm silica nanoparticles without any inorganic metal oxide or organic participant are able to spontaneously self-assemble presenting sophisticated forms and hierarchy. It was observed that after synthesis, silica nanoparticles are chaotically distributed but during storage at ambient conditions they spontaneously form self-assembled aggregates with multiplicity of morphologies when a small amount of water is added in the environment. Detailed description of the morphology of such structures by high resolution transmission electron microscope (HRTEM) is presented together with a discussion about the role of water during their spontaneous formation.