The front cover features Acid-directed synthesis of SERS-active hierarchical assemblies of silver nanostructures. This paper reports the acid-directed self-assembly of metal nanoparticles into large systems with complex structures, without the application of any polymer surfactant or capping agent. The team behind the research say that the addition of acid to induce formation of self-assembled structures can be a general synthetic platform to fabricate metal structures with complex morphologies. (J. Mater. Chem., 2011, 21, 2495-2501.)
Highlighted on the inside cover is Aqueous polyfluorene probe for the detection and estimation of Fe3+ and inorganic phosphate in blood serum. Reported in this paper is the synthesis of an anionic polyfluorene derivative, poly(9,9-bis(6′-sulfate)hexyl) fluorene-alt-1,4-phenylene sodium salt. This probe exhibits exemplary activity towards the selective detection of Fe3+ and phosphates under physiological conditions. (J. Mater. Chem., 2011, 21, 2502-2507.)
Mobility and photovoltaic performance studies on polymer blends: effects of side chains volume fraction by Getachew Adam, Almantas Pivrikas, Alberto M. Ramil, Sisay Tadesse, Teketel Yohannes, Niyazi S. Sariciftci and Daniel A. M. Egbe is the paper featured on the back cover. (J. Mater. Chem., 2011, 21, 2594-2600.)
