This is just a simple addition to the other answers stating that just having the materials is not enough, and that you need the knowledge AND technological infrastructure for the equipment required: **Structure matters and you have to be able to build that structure.**

>One use of these particles is combining them into molecules to create a particle shield.

And what are molecules if not a structure?

>Even when they've assembled the exact same elements, they get nothing but dusty/hazy clumps.

This might be obvious after I point it out, but doesn't this sound awfully similar to the difference between a living creature and a bunch of water and coal? Biological organisms are just made out of regular old elements, and rather abundant ones at that. But assembling them together properly is a *vastly* different matter.

A tank of water a bunch of coal will get you nowhere close. Oh, and those other trace elements? Make sure to get the proportions right because if you don't you will get gruesome results. Actually, if you manage to get something that can be classified as gruesome, you should be very proud because it means that not only did you get very close to something resembling anything living at all, it was a large, macroscopic, multi-cellular thing. A truly monumental result.