A rapid, high-yield, low-end and low-cost fabrication method for nanojet motors using a template directed electrochemical deposition method.
Read this ‘HOT’ Nanoscale article:
Self-propelled nanojets via template electrodeposition
Guanjia Zhao, Adriano Ambrosi and Martin Pumera
Nanoscale, 2013, DOI: 10.1039/C2NR31566A
Indium tin oxide (ITO) nano-branches for application in transparent flexible electrodes (TFEs) have been made by researchers in Korea.
The team used a simple beam evaporation method to make single crystal ITO nano-branches, which show better conductivity, better thermal stability and significantly better mechanical flexibility compared to commercial ITO film.
Transparent conducting oxides are very attractive materials for TFEs as they overcome limitations of alternatives such as metallic nanowires and carbon-based nanostructures, but their mechanical brittleness is a drawback. The nano-branched structure is much more flexible, and has an improved production process requiring lower temperatures and offering larger synthesis areas.
TFEs pervade modern technologies as critical components of many optoelectronic devices, e.g. solar cells, displays and lighting devices. The much-improved mechanical flexibility of this nano-branched structure implies potential for broad applicability in optoelectronic devices.
Read the Nanoscale article:
Nano-branched transparent conducting oxide: Beyond the brittleness limit for the flexible electrode applications
Hak Ki Yu, Sungjun Kim, Bonhyeong Koo, Gwan Ho Jung, Bola Lee, Juyoung Ham and Jong-Lam Lee
Nanoscale, 2012, DOI: 10.1039/C2NR32228E
Nanoscale themed issue: Functional Nanoparticles for Biomedical Applications
Guest Editor: Nguyen TK Thanh (University College London)
Co-Guest Editors: Ramanathan Nagarajan (Natick Soldier RD&E Center), Etienne Dugue (ICMCB),
Puerto Morales (ICMM), Claire Billotey (CNRS-UCBL) and Sylvie Begin (IPCMS)
We are delighted to announce a high-profile Nanoscale themed issue on “Functional Nanoparticles for Biomedical Applications”, to be published in 2013. The issue will be Guest Edited by Nguyen TK Thanh, University College London.
We invite you to submit to this exciting themed issue.
Submission Deadline: 30 April 2013
The issue aims to highlight the latest developments in the synthesis and processing of multifunctional bioactive nano-objects, as well as their biomedical applications. Topics will include:
– Design, synthesis and characterization of nanoparticles
– Biofunctionalisation of nanoparticles
– Biocompatibility
– Targeting strategies
– Drug delivery systems
– Biomedical Imaging (e.g. MRI, MPI, SPECT, PET)
– Therapeutics (e.g, hyperthermia, curie theraphy)
– Diagnostics (e.g., enzymatic assay, immunoassay, biosensing)
– Biodistribution/bioelimination
– Nanotoxicology
The deadline for submissions to this themed issue is 30 April 2013, though submissions before this date are, of course, welcomed. It is anticipated that the themed issue will be published in August 2013, accepted papers will be published online as soon as they are ready to avoid any delay.
Please see our Author Guidelines for more information. We hope you will be able to submit to this themed issue.
Nanoscale Associate Editor Professor Xiao Cheng Zeng‘s latest discovery has featured in Chemistry World this week. Zeng and colleagues have calculated the structure of a stable carbon dication with a coordination number of 7, higher than any yet seen experimentally.
Read the Chemistry World article:
US and Chinese chemists say that they’ve calculated the structure of a stable carbon dication that would have a higher coordination number than any yet seen experimentally. Xiao Cheng Zeng from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and colleagues have found that a carbon surrounded with seven titanium atoms can fulfil the necessary stability criteria. ‘We examined all first-row transition-metal elements and most main group elements,’ Zeng tells Chemistry World. ‘Only titanium fits thus far.’ Surrounding carbon with more than four other atoms moves beyond conventional two-centre, two-electron bonds to arrangements sharing fractional numbers of valence electrons. The current record largest cluster seen experimentally was a hexacoordinate carbon structure synthesised by Japanese researchers in 2008. But theoretical physical chemists are curious to see how much further coordination numbers might be pushed.
Professor Zeng handles submissions to Nanoscale in the computational and theoretical fields, he also has a specialist interest in nanoclusters, computational nanocatalysis and computer-aided design and study of nanostructured materials.
Submit to Xiao Cheng Zeng’s Editorial Office today.
A system that enables controlled delivery of materials into a single cell without the need for highly specialised manual operation has been developed by US scientists.
The system is fully electrical, is based on double-barrel nanopipettes and is capable of injecting a controlled amount of material into a single cell. It uses a scanning ion conductance microscope (SICM) to position a nanopipette within a few hundred nanometres of the cell membrane. The amount of material delivered to the cell is controlled by the amplitude and duration of an applied voltage. The team injected human fibroblasts with carboxyfluorescein as a proof-of-principle experiment.
Traditional micropipettes suffer from several drawbacks, e.g. large size relative to typical cells, low cell viability following injection and requirement of skilled operator. More recently developed atomic force microscopy-based nanoinjectors are limited in terms of throughput and control of injection volumes.
This new system overcomes many of these concerns, including very good cell viability (70-100 %), with normal cell division observed 27 hours post-injection. In addition, the authors were able to inject two different dyes into the cells without any cross-talk observed between the two; this gives rise to the possibility of build in more chambers and customise specific cocktails of molecules for different cells.
Read the ‘HOT’ Communication hot of the press!
Voltage Controlled Nano-injection System for Single-cell Surgery
R. Adam Seger, Paolo Actis, Catherine Penfold, Michelle Maalouf, Boaz Vilozny and Nader Pourmand
Nanoscale, 2012, Accepted Manuscript
DOI: 10.1039/C2NR31700A
Fluorescent carbon dots, a new member of the carbon nanomaterial family, have been drawing attention for use as optoelectronic devices, biological labelling and biomedicine, as an alternative to metal containing quantum dots (nanocrystals).
Scientists in China have synthesised them in a green way: with low heat, in one pot, in water, using ascorbic acid as the precursor.
Read the ‘HOT’ Nanoscale article:
One-pot green synthesis of optically pH-sensitive carbon dots with upconversion luminescence
X Jia, J Li and E Wang,
Nanoscale, 2012, DOI: 10.1039/c2nr31319g
New citation data just released by Thomson ISI shows the latest (2011) Impact Factor of Nanoscale as 5.914.
This shows a big increase of over 40% from it’s first Impact Factor released last year, which is testament to the high-quality research published in Nanoscale.
Nanoscale continues to attract work of the highest quality and impact; bridging the various disciplines involved with nanoscience and nanotechnology and disseminating the latest exciting research to its large, community-spanning international readership. We look forward to building on this success in the months and years ahead.
The Editorial Office thanks all our Board members, authors and readers for their support – Nanoscale is your journal.
We welcome your future high-quality submissions to Nanoscale – submit your best research today.
Find out how RSC journals are ranked in the latest Impact Factor release.
The first image of the structure of an Au20 cluster has been captured by researchers in the UK. The team says that the cluster has a tetrahedral pyramid structure.
This particular structural arrangement had been proposed after gas-phase experiments and theoretical calculations, but this is the first time that real-space atomic resolution images using scanning transmission electron microscopy have proved its existence on a solid surface.
This is important because confirming the atomic structure is fundamental for understanding nanoparticle structures and for the cluster’s applications in, for example, heterogeneous catalysis.
Read the ‘HOT’ Nanoscale article today:
Direct atomic imaging and dynamical fluctuations of the tetrahedral Au20 cluster
Z W Wang and R E Palmer
Nanoscale, 2012, DOI: 10.1039/c2nr31071f
Water purifying fungi have had a silver-coloured boost
By adding silver nanoparticles to the outside of white rot fungus, scientists have enhanced its natural ability to degrade water pollution – the silver acts as an antibacterial and the fungi remove heavy metals and pollutants from the water.
The scientists also package the super silver rot inside filters to demonstrate how the technology could be used for efficient, low cost water treatment.
Read the Nanoscale article:
Selected Region Functionalized Fungi with Magnetic Targeting Properties and Versatile Purification Capabilities
X Wang et al, Nanoscale, 2012
DOI: 10.1039/c2nr30766a
Scientists in China have made high performance dye sensitised solar cells and self-powered UV detectors by introducing novel multilayer nanostructured electrodes.
The electrodes were made of multilayered TiO2 nanorod-assembled cloths and TiO2 nanorod arrays grown on a conducting substrate. The combination of both types of TiO2 led to fast electron transport and good light capturing properties.
“We believe that the nanostructures may lead to a great revolution in the optoelectronic field in the future,” say the researchers.
Read the ‘HOT’ article:
Multilayer TiO2 Nanorod Cloth/Nanorod Arrays Electrode for Dye- Sensitized Solar Cells and Self-Powered UV Detectors
Guozhen Shen et al.
Nanoscale, 2012, Accepted Manuscript
DOI: 10.1039/C2NR30440F
