The US National Nanotechnology Day 2022 is an annual event of the National Nanotechnology Initiative of the U.S government “featuring community-led events and activities on or around October 9^th to help raise awareness of nanotechnology.” Holding the event on October 9th pays homage to the nanometer scale (10^-9 m).

We are delighted to share with you a new collection of recent articles published in Nanoscale Horizons, Nanoscale, Nanoscale Advances, Environmental Science: Nano and RSC Advances on this year’s theme of nanotechnology’s role in understanding and responding to climate change and improving the health of the Earth and its people.

Containing both reviews and original research, this collection includes work on nanoparticles used in sustainable agriculture, photonics and power generation as well as environmental remediation: rsc.li/USNanoDay2022

Below is a snapshot of some of the papers in the collection. We hope you enjoy reading these articles, which are all free to access till 30^th November, 2022. Nanoscale Advances and RSC Advances are fully gold open access journals whose articles are free to read always.

Reviews

Doing nano-enabled water treatment right: sustainability considerations from design and research through development and implementation, M. Falinski, R. S. Turley, J. Kidd, A. W. Lounsbury, M. Lanzarini-Lopes,   A. Backhaus,  H. E. Rudel, M. K. M. Lane,   C. L. Fausey   A. C. Barrios,  J. E. Loyo-Rosales,  F. Perreault, W. S. Walker, L. B. Stadler,  M. Elimelech, J. L. Gardea-Torresdey, P. Westerhoff, J. B. Zimmerman, Environ. Sci.: Nano, 2020,7, 3255-3278, DOI:10.1039/D0EN00584C

Silicon nanoparticles (SiNPs) in sustainable agriculture: major emphasis on the practicality, efficacy and concerns , Javaid Akhter Bhat, Nitika Rajora, Gaurav Raturi, Shivani Sharma, Pallavi Dhiman, Sandhya Sanand,  S. M. Shivaraj, Humira Sonahand,  Rupesh Deshmukh, Nanoscale Adv., 2021,3, 4019-4028, DOI: 10.1039/D1NA00233C

Paper

Cellulose particles capture aldehyde VOC pollutants, Isaac Bravo, Freddy Figueroa, Maria I. Swasy, Mohamed F. Attia, Mohamed Ateia, Domenica Encalada, Karla Vizuete,  Salome Galeas,  Victor H. Guerrero, Alexis Debut, Daniel C. Whitehead, Frank Alexis, RSC Adv., 2020,10, 7967-7975, DOI: 10.1039/D0RA00414F

Here is what Professor Jesse Jokerst, University of California at San-Diego, Advisory Board member, Nanoscale had to say on this theme:

“Nanotechnology can lead to better particulates and aerosols that reflect sunlight during geo-engineering. Nanotechnology and nanoengineering can also produce better containment systems for next-generation nuclear reactors.”

We wish you all a Happy #NationalNanoDay!

Thank you for reading this collection of papers and for your support!

Functional MOFs and COFs

A collection of articles selected by Paolo Samorì

Professor Paolo Samorì, University of Strasbourg, France, and Associate Editor for Nanoscale and Nanoscale Advances, presents his highlights of the latest research published in the journals on functional metal- and covalent-organic frameworks.

“Metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) and covalent–organic frameworks (COFs) have established themselves during the last few years as chemically tuneable scaffolds displaying unique structures and ad hoc physical and chemical properties that can be tailored by design. Their assembly enables the generation of highly porous structures that can, for example, host chemical species for gas and liquid purification or sensing and can host ions for energy storage and catalysis.

This online collection from Nanoscale and Nanoscale Advances highlights some of the most enlightening recent results on MOF- and COF-based functional assemblies, by providing clear evidence for their outstanding potential to address today’s societal challenges in the field of energy as well as environmental sciences.”

Read the collection

We hope you enjoy reading these articles.

Best wishes,

Professor Paolo Samorì
University of Strasbourg, France

Controlling anisotropy in nanomaterials

A collection of articles selected by Shouheng Sun

Professor Shouheng Sun, Brown University, USA, and Associate Editor for Nanoscale and Nanoscale Advances, presents his highlights of the latest research published in the journals on anisotropic nanomaterials.

“Anisotropy is an important characteristic that offers desirable direction-dependent properties in materials. Recent advances in nanoscience research have led to extensive studies in controlling anisotropy in nanomaterials to provide unprecedented control over their properties and functionality.

This online collection from Nanoscale and Nanoscale Advances highlights work on controlling anisotropy in nanomaterials to achieve desired chemical and physical properties. These articles provide understanding of the growth of anisotropic nanostructures at the atomic and molecular level, and explore their use in optoelectronic, magnetic, catalytic, biomedical and molecular separation applications.”

Read the collection

We hope you enjoy reading these articles.

Best wishes,

Professor Shouheng Sun

Brown University, USA

Computational studies of nanomaterials for energy, catalysis and electronics

A collection of articles selected by Xiao Cheng Zeng

Professor Xiao Cheng Zeng, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, USA, and Associate Editor for Nanoscale and Nanoscale Advances, presents his highlights of the latest computational research published in the journals on nanomaterials for energy, catalysis and electronics.

“Computational nanomaterials research has been playing a growing role over the past decade in the design of new nanomaterials, bringing deeper insights into novel properties of nanomaterials, supporting and corroborating experimental research, and gathering new data for machine learning and model development.

This online collection from Nanoscale and Nanoscale Advances covers several active areas of computational nanomaterials research, including design and/or investigation of nanoscale and single-atom catalysts, low-dimensional ferromagnetic, ferroelectric and multiferroic materials, low-dimensional semiconductors, halide perovskites, protein-ligand binding affinity, plasmonic nanoparticles, and metal nanoclusters. We hope this themed collection will be informative to contemporary computational nanomaterials research.”

Read the collection

We hope you enjoy reading these articles.

Best wishes,

Professor Xiao Cheng Zeng

University of Nebraska-Lincoln, USA

Recent breakthroughs in nanobiotechnology

A collection of articles selected by Yves Dufrêne

Professor Yves Dufrêne, UCLouvain, Belgium, an Associate Editor for Nanoscale and Nanoscale Advances, presents an online article collection featuring his highlights of the latest research published in these journals on nanobiotechnology.

“Nanobiotechnology is an exciting, rapidly evolving research field, which is predicted to have a dramatic impact on human activities, whether scientific, economical or societal. Nanomedicine, the medical application of nanotechnology, offers new opportunities to fight a range of diseases, including cancers and microbial infections. Progress in nanobiotechnology and nanomedicine strongly relies on the development of advanced tools and approaches for probing and manipulating biosystems, from single molecules to cells and tissues.

Proceeding from fundamental studies to medical applications, this collection of research and review articles published in Nanoscale and Nanoscale Advances provides a snapshot of recent progress made in the nanobio field, covering the development of innovative methodologies, nanotechniques and nanomaterials, such as biosensors, nanoscale and single-molecule characterization techniques, nanoparticles, drug encapsulation, biomedical nanomaterials, and micro- and nanopatterning, as well as the application of these new developments to DNA, proteins, microbes, cells, and to the design of novel therapies against cancer, bacteria and viruses.”

Read the collection

We hope you enjoy reading these articles.

Best wishes,

Professor Yves Dufrêne

UCLouvain, Belgium

Thermoelectric nanostructures

A collection of articles selected by Jin Zou

Professor Jin Zou, University of Queensland, Australia and Associate Editor for Nanoscale and Nanoscale Advances, presents an online article collection featuring his highlights of the latest research published in the journals on thermoelectric nanostructures.

“The development of thermoelectric materials has been considered as a key sustainable solution in dealing with the global energy dilemma by harvesting electricity from waste heat. Nanostructuring is a critical approach to enhance thermoelectric properties and coupled with other strategies, the development of thermoelectric nanostructures has been an active research discipline in exploring high-performance energy materials.

In this online collection, we have selected an array of thermoelectric nanomaterials related research articles and reviews recently published in Nanoscale and Nanoscale Advances, providing informative examples on the design and realization of thermoelectric materials with improved performance through theoretical modelling and/or experiments. In these articles, rich strategies have been demonstrated or proposed to enhance thermoelectric performance. Detailed correlations between observed properties with determined structural and chemical characteristics of thermoelectric materials allow the fundamental understanding of the nature of these materials, which, we hope, may inspire our readers in our wider nanocommunity.”

Read the collection

We hope you enjoy reading these articles.

Best wishes,

Professor Jin Zou

University of Queensland, Australia

Single-atom and nanocluster catalysis

A collection of articles selected by Manzhou Zhu

Professor Manzhou Zhu, Anhui University, China and Associate Editor for Nanoscale and Nanoscale Advances, presents an online article collection featuring his highlights of the latest research published in the journals on single-atom and nanocluster catalysis.

“Owing to their atomically precise structures and highly specific surface areas, continuing research on single-atom and nanocluster-based catalysts has been performed. This online themed collection focuses on single-atom and nanocluster catalysis, which is of major significance in elucidating the catalytic mechanisms as well as investigating new types of high-efficiency catalysts. We hope that the readers find this themed collection informative and useful.”

Read the collection

We hope you enjoy reading these articles.

Best wishes,

Professor Manzhou Zhu

Anhui University, China