Nanoscale & Nanoscale Advances Blog

Nanoscale Communication, just published

Biocompatible dispersions of carbon nanotubes: a potential tool for intracellular transport of anticancer drugs

Antonello Di Crescenzo, Diana Velluto, Jeffrey A. Hubbell and Antonella Fontana

Nanoscale, 2011, DOI: 10.1039/C0NR00444H

In this communication, Di Crescenzo and coworkers present their work on the use of multi-walled carbon nanotubes for intracellular drug delivery. Although the nanotubes are intrinsically hydrophobic, coating them with the diblock copolymer poly (ethylene glycol-b-propylene sulfide) (PEG₄₄PPS₂₀) at once bestows water solubility and biocompatibility on the nanotubes. The experiments carried out by this team were designed to assess the capability of these coated nanotubes to assist and direct delivery of the anticancer drug doxorubicin into cancer cells by acting as a drug-delivery vehicle. The authors demonstrate that the coated nanotubes can be loaded with a finely tuned amount of the drug, and delivered into cells where they exhibit enhanced cytotoxicity compared to both doxorubicin alone and doxorubicin-loaded copolymer micelles.

Philip Howes

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Nanoscale, Hot Article

Facile synthesis of metal oxide/reduced graphene oxide hybrids with high lithium storage capacity and stable cyclability
Jixin Zhu, Ting Zhu, Xiaozhu Zhou, Yanyan Zhang, Xiong Wen Lou, Xiaodong Chen, Hua Zhang, Huey Hoon Hng and Qingyu Yan
Nanoscale, 2011, Advance Article, DOI: 10.1039/C0NR00744G

Qingyu Yan and colleagues report an environment-friendly approach to synthesize transition metal oxide nanoparticles (NPs)/reduced graphene oxide (rGO) sheets hybrids, by combining the reduction of graphene oxide (GO) with the growth of metal oxide NPs in one step. The  synthesis technique can be a promising route to produce advanced electrode materials for Li-ion batteries.

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Nanoscale Hot Review

Read the review on the synthesis and photoluminescence properties of small-sized Si nanoparticles, their potential applications in the fields of bioimaging and nanocatalysis, and the major challenges and promises in this area.

Small-sized silicon nanoparticles: new nanolights and nanocatalysts

Zhenhui Kang, Yang Liu and Shuit-Tong Lee
Nanoscale, 2011, DOI: 10.1039/C0NR00559B

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Nanoscale Hot article, just published

Tuning from blue to magenta the up-converted emissions of YF₃:Tm³⁺/Yb³⁺ nanocrystals

Marta Quintanilla, Nuria O. Núñez, Eugenio Cantelar, Manuel Ocaña and Fernando Cussó

Nanoscale, 2011, Advance Article, DOI: 10.1039/C0NR00676A

Quintanilla and co-workers synthesise monodisperse YF₃:Tm³⁺/Yb³⁺ nanocrystals to explore the visible up-converting properties under near infrared (975 nm) excitation. The nanoparticles exhibit intense red up-converted emissions, in addition to the characteristic UV and blue Tm³⁺-bands. The authors demonstrate that, by carefully selecting Tm³⁺ and Yb³⁺ contents, the relative intensity of the different emissions can be changed producing an overall emission colour that can be tuned from blue to magenta.

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Communication, hot off the press

Electro-netting: Fabrication of two-dimensional nano-nets for highly sensitive trimethylamine sensing
Xianfeng Wang, Bin Ding, Jianyong Yu, Yang Si, Shangbin Yang and Gang Sun
Nanoscale, 2011, DOI: 10.1039/C0NR00783H, Communication

A facile electro-netting process is used to prepare 2D polyacrylic acid nano-nets that comprise interlinked ultrathin nanowires with diameters of 10–30 nm. The versatile nano-nets create enhanced interconnectivity and additional surface area and facilitate the diffusion of analytes into the membranes, which significantly boost the gas diffusion coefficient and sensing properties.

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Hot Article, out now

Pair distribution function (PDF) analysis from total X-ray scattering has been used to determine the structure of TiO₂ nanoparticles grown within an icosahedral virus capsid. The protein–TiO₂ composites are similar to nanocrystalline anatase and show photocatalytic activity. PDF analysis is ideally suited to the study of protein–inorganic nanocomposites, and may be able to provide information about the hard/soft interface. Read the whole article now

Structure and photoelectrochemistry of a virus capsid–TiO2 nanocomposite
Craig Jolley, Michael Klem, Richard Harrington, John Parise and Trevor Douglas
Nanoscale, 2011, DOI: 10.1039/C0NR00378F

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Oxidative biodegradation of single- and multi-walled carbon nanotubes

Julie Russier, Cécilia Ménard-Moyon, Enrica Venturelli, Edmond Gravel, Gabriele Marcolongo, Moreno Meneghetti, Eric Doris and Alberto Bianco

Nanoscale, 2011, DOI: 10.1039/C0NR00779J


In this study, the authors compare the biodegradation of SWCNTs and MWCNTs using two different oxidative conditions. They demostrate  that treating oxidized multi-walled carbon nanotubes with horseradish peroxidase in the presence of hydrogen peroxide, degrades the MWCNT almost to completeness.

With an increasing industrial production and presence of CNTs, the exploration of their biodegradation is of fundamental importance, especially for biomedical applications.

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