Reading through the paper it seems to be all over the place and immediately assumes the worst from the start. Particles in suspensions and "nano self-assembly" and structure formation seems scary but is often a natural phenomenon, especially with surfactants and anything manipulating surface charges (example being pH and salt solutions).

With that said some of those structures don't look like anything I've experienced. No need to jump to conclusions though, the equipment they used is very basic so if this is the case this could be easily replicated. If there was no shenanigans the authors should be very open about their methods to allow for confirmation analysis.