Nanoscale quantum technologies

Guest edited by Qing Dai, Chao-Yang Lu and Zhipei Sun

We are delighted to introduce a new online collection published in Nanoscale that provides a snapshot of recent progress in quantum technologies, including quantum materials, computing, sensing, imaging, photonics, optics and more, which we hope will inspire future developments.

Materials and structures at the nanoscale play a key role in various current and emerging quantum technologies. In the last few decades, we have witnessed significant progress in nanoscience and nanotechnology, which has enabled great successes from fundamental research to applications in quantum technologies, facilitating completely new horizons in this area.

You can explore the collection and read the introductory editorial from our guest editors below, with all articles free to access until the end of September 2023.

Read the collection

Professor Qing Dai (National Center for Nanoscience and Technology, China), Professor Chao-Yang Lu (University of Science and Technology of China, China) and Professor Zhipei Sun (Aalto University, Finland), served as guest editors for this collection and highlight the importance of quantum technologies in their introductory editorial.

Read the introductory editorial

Read some of the featured articles below.

Silicon photonics interfaced with microelectronics for integrated photonic quantum technologies: a new era in advanced quantum computers and quantum communications?
Rajeev Gupta, Rajesh Singh, Anita Gehlot, Shaik Vaseem Akram, Neha Yadav, Ranjeet Brajpuriya, Ashish Yadav, Yongling Wu, Hongyu Zheng, Abhijit Biswas, Ephraim Suhir, Vikram Singh Yadav, Tanuj Kumar and Ajay Singh Verma
Nanoscale, 2023, DOI: 10.1039/D2NR05610K

Photon pairs bi-directionally emitted from a resonant metasurface
Changjin Son, Vitaliy Sultanov, Tomás Santiago-Cruz, Aravind P. Anthur, Haizhong Zhang, Ramon Paniagua-Dominguez, Leonid Krivitsky, Arseniy I. Kuznetsov and Maria V. Chekhova
Nanoscale, 2023, DOI: 10.1039/D2NR05499J

Highly-efficient radiative thermal rectifiers based on near-field gap variations
Bei Yang and Qing Dai
Nanoscale, 2022, DOI: 10.1039/D2NR04350E

Coupling spin defects in hexagonal boron nitride to titanium dioxide ring resonators
Milad Nonahal, Chi Li, Febiana Tjiptoharsono, Lu Ding, Connor Stewart, John Scott, Milos Toth, Son Tung Ha, Mehran Kianinia and Igor Aharonovich
Nanoscale, 2022, DOI: 10.1039/D2NR02522A

Synthesis of mono- and few-layered n-type WSe₂ from solid state inorganic precursors
Mauro Och, Konstantinos Anastasiou, Ioannis Leontis, Giulia Zoe Zemignani, Pawel Palczynski, Ali Mostaed, Maria S. Sokolikova, Evgeny M. Alexeev, Haoyu Bai, Alexander I. Tartakovskii, Johannes Lischner, Peter D. Nellist, Saverio Russo and Cecilia Mattevi
Nanoscale, 2022, DOI: 10.1039/D2NR03233C

Nanoscale is always interested in considering high-quality articles on on quantum materials, devices and technologies and we would be delighted if you would consider the journal for your next submission, which can be made via our online submission service. All submissions will be subject to initial assessment and peer review as appropriate according to the journal’s guidelines.

We hope you enjoy reading this collection and look forward to seeing how this field progresses! Please continue to submit your exciting work on emerging quantum technologies to Nanoscale.

Call for papers: Frontiers in Stimuli-Responsive Nanoplatforms

Pioneering Drug Delivery in Nanobiotechnology

We are delighted to announce an open call for papers to our new themed collection focusing on stimuli-responsive nanoplatforms for drug delivery!

Guest Editors: Prof. Juan C. Cruz, (Universidad de los Andes, Colombia) and Prof. Luis H. Reyes (Universidad de los Andes, Columbia)

This collection welcomes innovative research and review articles focused on the recent developments and novel approaches in stimuli-responsive nanoplatforms for drug delivery. We encourage submissions that highlight the design, synthesis, and application of these nanoplatforms, with an emphasis on their potential to transform therapeutic delivery methods. We aim to highlight the intersection of nanobiotechnology and drug delivery, fostering discussions on future trends and challenges within this exciting field.

You are welcome to submit an article within the scope before 01 March 2024.

If you are interested in contributing to this collection, please get in touch with the Editorial Office by email.

Please note that article processing charges apply to all articles submitted to Nanoscale Advances if, following peer-review, they are accepted for publication. Exceptions include researchers at Research4Life Group A and B countries, and those whose institutes have an existing deal that covers publication in our gold open access journals. Details of the APC and discounted rates can be found here.

Call for papers: Photocatalytic Nanomaterials for Clean Energy, Renewable Chemicals production, and Sustainable Catalysis

Guest edited by Rajeev Ahuja and Rajendra Srivastava 

We are delighted to announce an open call for papers to our new themed collection focusing on photocatalytic nanomaterials!

Guest Editors: Rajeev Ahuja (Uppsala University, Sweden) and Rajendra Srivastava (Indian Institute of Technology Ropar, India)

Nanocatalytic materials can solve energy and environmental problems by penetrating plastic polymer waste and providing a high surface area with exposed active sites to catalyze the reactions to produce sustainable chemicals and fuels. The process will be highly sustainable if light energy, including solar energy, is utilized to produce clean energy and chemicals. Thus, efforts must be made to develop novel materials or engineer materials for harvesting light energy for producing clean energy and chemicals.

In this collection, we welcome both review and research articles on the following topics:

• Photocatalytic nanomaterials and process for H₂ production, CO₂ to chemicals and fuels
• Photocatalytic nanomaterials and biomass conversion to chemicals and fuels
• Engineering photocatalytic nanomaterials for sustainable catalysis
• Photocatalytic nanomaterials for photoreforming of plastic waste
• Computational study on designing new photocatalytic nanomaterials for clean energy

You are welcome to submit an article within the scope before 20 February 2024.

If you are interested in contributing to this collection, please get in touch with the Editorial Office by email.

Please note that article processing charges apply to all articles submitted to Nanoscale Advances if, following peer-review, they are accepted for publication. Exceptions include researchers at Research4Life Group A and B countries, and those whose institutes have an existing deal that covers publication in our gold open access journals. Details of the APC and discounted rates can be found here.

Supercapacitors

Guest edited by Zhaojun Han, Ruopian Fang, Dewei Chu, Da-wei Wang.

Advisory Guest Editor Kostya (Ken) Ostrikov

We are delighted to present to you a diverse set of works showcasing exciting new research on supercapacitors, particularly electrode materials and high voltage materials from basic concepts to applications.

A major challenge for supercapacitors is that conventional devices have a relatively low energy density, which is about 20 to 40 times lower than that of lithium-ion batteries. Significant research effort has therefore been devoted to improving the energy density without compromising their excellent power density.

This themed collection features research papers on asymmetrical supercapacitors, multifunctional supercapacitors, and more. Articles are published in Nanoscale Advances so they are all open access and freely available.

A small selection of papers are featured below.

Introduction to Supercapacitors
Zhaojun Han, Ruopian Fang, Dewei Chu, Da-Wei Wang and Kostya (Ken) Ostrikov
Nanoscale Adv., 2023, Advance Article

Recent advances in supramolecular self-assembly derived materials for high-performance supercapacitors
Honghong Cheng, Ruliang Liu, Ruyi Zhang, Lan Huang and Qiaoyi Yuan
Nanoscale Adv., 2023, 5, 2394-2412

Facile fabrication of graphene-based high-performance microsupercapacitors operating at a high temperature of 150 °C
Viktoriia Mishukova, Nicolas Boulanger, Artem Iakunkov, Szymon Sollami Delekta, Xiaodong Zhuang, Alexandr Talyzin and Jiantong Li
Nanoscale Adv., 2021, 3, 4674-4679

We hope you enjoy reading the special collection.

A collection highlighting 2023’s rising stars of nanoscience and nanotechnology research

Nanoscale is proud to present our annual Emerging Investigators collection, recognising the rising stars of nanoscience and nanotechnology by gathering some of the very best work from researchers in the early stages of their independent careers. Each contributor was recommended by experts in their fields for carrying out work with the potential to influence future directions in nanoscience and nanotechnology.

Please join us in congratulating our featured researchers on their important work so far! You can explore the collection and profiles of our Emerging Investigators below, with all articles free to access until the end of August 2023.

Read the collection

Meet the scientists

Congratulations to all of the featured researchers, we hope you enjoy reading these articles and look forward to sharing more work from early-career nano researchers with you soon!

Nanomaterials for printed electronics

Guest edited by Cinzia Casiraghi, Oana Jurchescu, Shlomo Magdassi and Wenming Su

Printed electronics have witnessed significant interest within the last few decades, in particular in conjunction with the development of the Internet of Things (IoTs). The digitization of machines, vehicles, and elements of the physical world could completely change the way we interact with objects and collect and get access to data, leading to improved quality of life and reduced costs. This collection explores a multitude of applications within the field and aims to exhibit new and exciting prospects for nanomaterials in printed electronics.

We are delighted to introduce a new online collection published in Nanoscale that explores a multitude of applications within the field and aims to exhibit new and exciting prospects for nanomaterials in printed electronics. All of the articles in the collection are free to access until the end of August 2023.

Read the collection

The guest editors, Professor Cinzia Casiraghi (University of Manchester, UK), Professor Oana Jurchescu (Wake Forest University, USA), Professor Shlomo Magdassi (Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel) and Professor Wenming Su (Suzhou Institute of Nano-Tech and Nano-Bionics, China), introduce this collection in their editorial.

Read the introductory editorial

Read some of the featured articles below.

A sprayed graphene transistor platform for rapid and low-cost chemical sensing
Benji Fenech-Salerno, Martin Holicky, Chengning Yao, Anthony E. G. Cass and Felice Torrisi
Nanoscale, 2023, DOI: 10.1039/D2NR05838C

High performance printed organic electrochromic devices based on an optimized UV curable solid-state electrolyte
Chenchao Huang, Zishou Hu, Yuan-Qiu-Qiang Yi, Xiaolian Chen, Xinzhou Wu, Wenming Su and Zheng Cui
Nanoscale, 2022, DOI: 10.1039/D2NR03209K

Visualisation of individual dopants in a conjugated polymer: sub-nanometre 3D spatial distribution and correlation with electrical properties
Gustav Persson, Emmy Järsval, Magnus Röding, Renee Kroon, Yadong Zhang, Stephen Barlow, Seth Marder, Christian Müller and Eva Olsson
Nanoscale, 2022, DOI: 10.1039/D2NR03554E

Ionic dielectrics for fully printed carbon nanotube transistors: impact of composition and induced stresses
Brittany N. Smith, Hope Meikle, James L. Doherty, Shiheng Lu, Gianna Tutoni, Matthew L. Becker, Michael J. Therien and Aaron D. Franklin
Nanoscale, 2022, DOI: 10.1039/D2NR04206A

Plasmon enhanced fluorescence from meticulously positioned gold nanoparticles, deposited by ultra sonic spray coating on organic light emitting diodes
Rachith Shanivarasanthe Nithyananda Kumar, Maarten Eerdekens, Yovan de Coene, Veda Sandeep Nagaraja, Shabnam Ahadzadeh, Melissa Vanlandeghem, Thierry Verbiest and Wim Deferme
Nanoscale Adv., 2023, DOI: 10.1039/D2NA00753C

Nanoscale is always interested in considering high-quality articles on nanomaterials for printed electronics and we would be delighted if you would consider the journal for your next submission, which can be made via our online submission service. All submissions will be subject to initial assessment and peer review as appropriate according to the journal’s guidelines.

We hope you enjoy reading this collection and look forward to seeing how this field progresses! Please continue to submit your exciting work on printed electronics to Nanoscale.

Epitaxial growth of nanostructures and their properties

Guest edited by Jin Zou

We are delighted to present to you a diverse set of works showcasing the development of epitaxial nanostructures, in which their outstanding properties are obtained due to the epitaxy.

A key fabrication technique for nanoscale materials is the bottom-up approach. Epitaxial growth allows the grown nanostructures to have well defined orientation relationships, crystallographic directions/planes, crystal structures/phases, and facets/interfaces with their underlying substrates. Such unique features are often essential for securing their unique and high-efficient applications.

In the recent decades, epitaxial growth has been widely employed to grow various advanced nanostructures, including semiconductor nanostructures (such as quantum dots, semiconductor nanowires and quantum wells), 2D nanostructures (including ultra-thin nanosheets), and hierarchical nanostructured metal-organic frameworks (MOF-on-MOF).

This themed collection features work covering the development of these three groups of epitaxial nanostructures, in which their outstanding properties are obtained due to the epitaxy. Articles are published in Nanoscale Advances so they are all open access and freely available.

A small selection of papers are featured below:

Epitaxial growth of crystal phase quantum dots in III–V semiconductor nanowires
Miguel Sinusia Lozano and Víctor J. Gómez
Nanoscale Adv., 2023, 5, 1890-1909

Complications in silane-assisted GaN nanowire growth
Nian Jiang, Saptarsi Ghosh, Martin Frentrup, Simon M. Fairclough, Kagiso Loeto, Gunnar Kusch, Rachel A. Oliver and Hannah J. Joyce
Nanoscale Adv., 2023, 5, 2610-2620

Polarization-dependent plasmonic heating in epitaxially grown multilayered metal–organic framework thin films embedded with Ag nanoparticles
Kenji Okada, Risa Mashita, Arisa Fukatsu and Masahide Takahashi
Nanoscale Adv., 2023, 5, 1795-1801

We hope you enjoy reading the special collection!

Call For Papers: Theranostic nanoplatforms for biomedicine

Guest edited by Nguyen T. K. Thanh, Sophie Laurent, Sylvie Begin-Colin and Teresa Pellegrino ‬‬

We are delighted to announce a call for papers for our latest online themed collection in Nanoscale on Theranostic nanoplatforms for biomedicine that is being guest edited by Professor Nguyen T. K. Thanh (University College London, UK), Professor Sophie Laurent (University of Mons, Belgium), Professor Sylvie Begin-Colin (University of Strasbourg, France) and Professor Teresa Pellegrino (Italian Institute of Technology, Italy).

For nanomedicine to fill its promise, either direct intratumoral injection or active targeting with affinity ligands to achieve favourable specificity and biodistribution profiles is critical for accurate detection, monitoring and therapeutic efficacy. Such smart approaches, when translated to clinical uses, will have a great impact on the management of cancer and other diseases to improve patient survival and quality of life. However, for further clinical translation of nanoplatforms, a key step is their scale-up.

This new collection in Nanoscale focuses on the design of multifunctional hybrid nanomaterials for theranostics in biomedicine, with a focus on the scaling-up of these nanomaterials for translational studies. The scope of this collection loosely aligns with an accompanying symposium held at the 2023 Spring E-MRS meeting: Symposium J – Design and scaling up of theranostic nanoplatforms for health: towards translational studies, in Strasbourg, from 29 May – 2 June 2023. Potential topics include but are not limited to:

• Design, synthesis and characterization of nanoparticles: inorganic, polymers, liposomes, dendrimers
• Targeting strategies
• Multimodal Imaging (e.g., MRI, MPI, SPECT, PET)
• Multimodal therapy (e.g., hyperthermia, curie therapy)
• Drug delivery
• Nanotoxicology
• In vitro and in vivo validation of nanoplatforms combining multimodal imaging and therapies
• Scaling-up strategies of nanoplatform synthesis
• New synthesis processes taking into account good manufacturing practice (GMP) and environmental considerations

This call for papers is open for the following article types:

• Communications
• Full papers

Open for submissions until 31 March 2024

If you would like to contribute to this themed collection, you can submit your article directly through the Nanoscale online submission system. Please mention that this submission is a contribution to the Theranostic nanoplatforms for biomedicine collection in the “Themed issues” section of the submission form and add a “Note to the Editor” that this is from the Open Call. The Editorial Office reserves the right to check suitability of submissions in relation to the scope of both the journal and the collection, and inclusion of accepted articles in the final themed issue is not guaranteed.

Please also note that all submissions will undergo our normal rigorous peer review processes including an initial assessment prior to peer review, and that peer review and acceptance are not guaranteed.

If you have any questions about the journal or the collection, then Edward Gardner, the Development Editor for Nanoscale, would be happy to answer them. You can contact him by emailing the journal inbox.

With best wishes,

Professor Nguyen T. K. Thanh, University College London, UK
Professor Sophie Laurent, University of Mons, Belgium
Professor Sylvie Begin-Colin, University of Strasbourg, France
Professor Teresa Pellegrino, Italian Institute of Technology, Italy

Call For Papers: Fundamental processes in optical nanomaterials

Guest edited by Arindam Chowdhury, Eva Hemmer, Alison Funston and Jon Veinot ‬‬

We are delighted to announce a call for papers for our latest online themed collection in Nanoscale and ChemComm on Fundamental processes in optical nanomaterials that is being guest edited by Professor Arindam Chowdhury (IIT Bombay, India), Dr Alison Funston (Monash University, Australia),  Professor Eva Hemmer (University of Ottawa, Canada) and Professor Jonathan Veinot (University of Alberta, Canada).

Advanced optical nanomaterials are the building block to innovative technologies that have the potential to address societal challenges from energy to health. Optical nanomaterials offer solutions to more efficient energy harvesting and energy conversion technologies, to enhanced data storage and fast and secure telecommunication, or to more efficient and personalized biomedical approaches, to name just a few examples. To achieve the goal of real-life applications, better understanding of known processes and the discovery of new fundamental phenomena is key.

This special cross-journal collection in Nanoscale and ChemComm aims to look at new phenomena in optical nanomaterials, without the need for applications to be fully realized. We hope to feature research reporting new processes, phenomena and observations, and applications are welcomed but we are also excited to see reports of new and interesting fundamental science. Potential topics include but are not limited to:

• Luminescent materials
• Scattering materials
• Metamaterials
• Plasmonics
• Nanophotonics
• Fundamental processes in optical materials (although applications can be included)
• New techniques or methods of analysis
• Spectroscopy of materials
• Single-particle imaging
• Light interaction with nanomaterials in tissues

This call for papers is open for the following article types:

• Communications
• Full papers

Open for submissions until 31 July 2023

If you would like to contribute to this themed collection, you can submit your article directly through the Nanoscale online submission service. or the ChemComm online submission service. Please mention that this submission is a contribution to the Fundamental processes in optical nanomaterials collection in the “Themed issues” section of the submission form and add a “Note to the Editor” that this is from the Open Call. The Editorial Office reserves the right to check suitability of submissions in relation to the scope of both the journal and the collection, and inclusion of accepted articles in the final themed issue is not guaranteed.

Please also note that all submissions will be subject to initial assessment and rigorous peer review to meet the usual high standards of the journals and acceptance is not guaranteed.

If you have any questions about the journal or the collection, then Edward Gardner, the Development Editor for Nanoscale, would be happy to answer them. You can contact him by emailing the journal inbox.

With best wishes,

Professor Arindam Chowdhury, IIT Bombay, India
Dr Alison Funston, Monash University, Australia
Professor Eva Hemmer, University of Ottawa, Canada
Professor Jonathan Veinot, University of Alberta, Canada

Contribute to a new themed collection in Nanoscale Advances

We are delighted to announce an open call for papers to our new themed collection focusing on Nanoclusters: From Theory to Application.

Guest Editors: Yi Gao (Shanghai Advanced Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China), Daojian Cheng (Beijing University of Chemical Technology, China) and Zhigang Wang (Jilin University, China).

Nanoclusters are small-sized nanoparticles with unique and tunable properties depending on their sizes, structures and compositions. They have potential applications in various fields such as biomedicine, catalysis, energy and nanotechnology. This themed collection is intended to present the most recent developments in the synthesis, characterization, and application of nanoclusters in theoretical and experimental research. It will cover topics such as nanocluster stability, electronic structures, reactivity, magnetism, optical properties, alloying effects, self-assembly and functionalization. The collection will also highlight the challenges and opportunities for nanocluster research and development.

You are welcome to submit an original research article within the scope before 31 October 2023.

If you are interested in contributing to this collection, please get in touch with the Editorial Office by email at nanoscaleadvances-rsc@rsc.org 

Please note that article processing charges apply to all articles submitted to Nanoscale Advances if, following peer-review, they are accepted for publication. Details of the APC and discounted rates can be found here.