The ultimate step towards a tailored engineering of core@shell and core@shell@shell nanoparticles.

Complex core@shell and core@shell@shell nanoparticles are systems that combine the functionalities of the inner core and outer shell materials together with new physico-chemical properties originated by their low (nano) dimensionality. Such nanoparticles are of prime importance in the fast growing field of nanotechnology as building blocks for more sophisticated systems and a plethora of applications. Here, it is shown that although conceptually simple a modified gas aggregation approach allows the one-step generation of well-controlled complex nanoparticles. In particular, it is demonstrated that the atoms of the core and the shell of the nanoparticles can be easily inverted, avoiding intrinsic constraints of chemical methods.