Endohedrally Doped Superatoms and Assemblies

Prediction and experimental verification of silicon fullerenes and other polyhedral forms stabilized by metal atom encapsulation have led to the emergence of endohedral doping of clusters as a novel way to form strongly stable superatoms in macroscopic quantities. Assemblies of such superatoms have also been realized. This has opened up new opportunities to develop novel atom-precise assemblies of nano- and sub-nano-scale building blocks for future miniature functional materials. Here, we discuss these developments briefly by giving several examples of superatoms and their assembles in 1D, 2D, and 3D materials.