Call For Papers: Advanced semiconductor nanocrystals

Guest edited by Jannika Lauth, Indranath Chakraborty, Klaus Boldt and Angshuman Nag

We are delighted to announce a call for papers for our latest online themed collection in Nanoscale on advanced semiconductor nanocrystals, guest edited by Professors Jannika Lauth (University of Tübingen, Germany), Indranath Chakraborty (IIT Kharagpur, India), Klaus Boldt (University of Rostock, Germany) and Angshuman Nag (IISER Pune, India).

Colloidal semiconductor nanocrystals are among the most captivating and influential nanomaterials due to their versatility and wide range of applications. Today, advanced nanocrystals are accessible, with high control over size, shape, and anisotropy, complex structures, exceptional purity, controlled doping, and more. These nanoscale materials exhibit unique optical and electronic properties because of their quantum confinement effects. They are used in light emitters, photodetectors, catalysis, energy harvesting, and components crucial for quantum computing endeavours. With continued research and innovation, these nanomaterials promise to revolutionize various technological fields and address pressing societal challenges. A better grasp of existing processes and uncovering unknown phenomena are crucial for practical applications.

This unique compilation in Nanoscale seeks to explore emerging phenomena in semiconductor nanocrystals. We welcome ground-breaking research that sheds light on fundamental processes in advanced nanocrystals, as well as exciting and future-oriented applications of these materials. Topics of interest include, but are not restricted to:

• Quantum dots
• Perovskite nanocrystals
• 2D semiconductors
• Fundamental studies in light-matter interactions
• Luminescent nanocrystals
• Charge carrier dynamics
• Nanophotonics
• Quantum emitters
• Photodetectors
• Photovoltaics
• Photocatalysis
• Theranostics

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

• Communications
• Full papers

Open for submissions until 12 November 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 an open call contribution to the advanced semiconductor nanocrystals 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 the normal 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 Jannika Lauth, University of Tübingen, Germany (ORCID: 0000-0002-6054-9615)
Professor Indranath Chakraborty, IIT Kharagpur, India (ORCID: 0000-0003-4195-9384)
Professor Klaus Boldt, University of Rostock, Germany (ORCID: 0000-0002-0035-2490)
Professor Angshuman Nag, IISER Pune, India (ORCID: 0000-0003-2308-334X)

Call For Papers: Superwetting nanoelectrodes for renewable energy

Guest edited by Zuankai Wang, Alex Bell, Alberto Vomiero and Xiaoming Sun

We are delighted to announce a call for papers for our latest online themed collection in Nanoscale on Superwetting nanoelectrodes for renewable energy, guest edited by Professors Zuankai Wang (The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong), Alex Bell (University of California, Berkeley, USA), Alberto Vomiero (Luleå University of Technology, Sweden) and Xiaoming Sun (Beijing University of Chemical Technology, China).

Concerns about global warming from fossil fuels and high oil prices are driving up demand for renewable energy, including wind or solar powers, which currently generates about one-fifth of the electricity used worldwide and is continuously growing. Owing to the intermittent characteristic of distributed renewable energy such as wind power and photovoltaic cell, electricity powered production including hydrogen production, is put forward as the strategy of energy carrier and suppressing the power fluctuations, which lead to the demands for designing better electrode with higher stability and efficiency.

Biomimetic surfaces, which generally show regular micro/nanostructures, offer new insights to address this issue because the intrinsic activity can determine the electrocatalytic behaviours at low overpotentials near the onset, but management on bubbles have a significant influence on the slope under high overpotential where diffusion and mass transfer are more important. Although a series of nanoarray-based structured electrodes have been constructed and demonstrated with excellent performances for gas-involving electrochemical reactions, understanding of bubble wetting behaviour remains elusive. The design of nature-inspired superwetting surface topography for unique functions will spur new thinking and provide paradigm shift in the development of next-generation of new materials and devices, and dramatically extend the boundaries of renewable energy.

This special issue in Nanoscale aims to publish papers focusing on the fundamental understanding and practical applications of superwetting nanoelectrodes, covering broad topics such as:

• Construction of superwetting electrodes
• Understanding and controlling three-phase boundaries
• Mass transfer dynamics during electrocatalysis
• Bubble/droplet movement on solid surfaces
• Electrochemical reactions between different phases

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

• Communications
• Full papers

Open for submissions until 8 December 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 an open call contribution to the Superwetting nanoelectrodes for renewable energy 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 the normal 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 Zuankai Wang, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong (ORCID: 0000-0002-3510-1122)
Professor Alex Bell, University of California, Berkeley, USA (ORCID: 0000-0002-5738-4645)
Professor Alberto Vomiero, Luleå University of Technology, Sweden (ORCID: 0000-0003-2935-1165)
Professor Xiaoming Sun, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, China (ORCID: 0000-0002-3831-6233)

Call For Papers: MXene chemistries in biology, medicine and sensing

Guest edited by Yury Gogotsi, Lucia Gemma Delogu, Acelya Yilmazer and Maksym Pogorielov

We are delighted to announce a call for papers for our latest online themed collection in Nanoscale on MXene chemistries in biology, medicine and sensing that is being guest edited by Professors Yury Gogotsi (Drexel University, USA), Lucia Gemma Delogu (University of Padua, Italy and Khalifa University, United Arab Emirates), Acelya Yilmazer (Ankara University, Turkey) and Maksym Pogorielov (Sumy State University, Ukraine and University of Latvia, Latvia).

Materials play a pivotal role in driving the progress of humanity. From the silicon age, when electronic and computer technologies revolutionized our lives, to the present, where we stand on the cusp of the age of nanomaterials, such as MXenes. MXenes represent a very large class of inorganic materials with an unparalleled diversity of structures and compositions. This sets them apart as one of the most significant recent discoveries in materials science.

These two-dimensional inorganic compounds consist of atomically thin layers of transition metal carbides, nitrides, or carbonitrides. Their versatile chemistry and unique and highly tuneable physicochemical properties have propelled them into myriad applications across various fields, ranging from energy storage to electronics and medicine.

Multiple studies have demonstrated that several MXenes are biocompatible and non-toxic to living organisms, thereby opening a door for various biomedical applications. MXene-based materials offer unique advantages in biosensing, cancer research, and regenerative medicine. The list of medical scenarios is growing every day, from the treatment of cardiovascular diseases to immunology and neuroscience.

This special-themed collection aims to provide a platform to showcase the recent progress and challenges in the field of MXenes chemistries addressing the exciting current challenges in biology, medicine and sensing. The scope of the collection is broad, including but are not limited to:

• MXene biocompatibility
• MXenes for sensing (optical sensors, chemical sensors, biosensors, gas sensors, SERS, etc)
• MXenes in cancer research
• MXenes in immunology
• MXenes for drug delivery
• MXenes as diagnostic tools
• MXenes in regenerative medicine
• MXenes in microbiology and virology
• MXenes in bioelectronics

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

• Communications
• Full papers

Open for submissions until 30 September 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 an open call contribution to the MXene chemistries in biology, medicine and sensing 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 Yury Gogotsi, Drexel University, USA (ORCID: 0000-0001-9423-4032)
Professor Lucia Gemma Delogu, University of Padua, Italy and Khalifa University, United Arab Emirates (ORCID: 0000-0002-2329-7260)
Professor Acelya Yilmazer, Ankara University, Turkey (ORCID: 0000-0003-2712-7450)
Professor Maksym Pogorielov, Sumy State University, Ukraine and University of Latvia, Latvia (ORCID: 0000-0001-9372-7791)

Open Call for Papers – Chiral Nanomaterials

Guest Edited by David Amabilino, Jeanne Crassous, Pengfei Duan and Nicholas Kotov

Chiral Nanomaterials have gone from being largely anecdotal curiosities to sophisticated materials with distinctively strong polarization rotation that had become an enabler for the areas, such as biosensing, catalysis and displays.  Chiral nanostructures also have enormous potential in emerging technologies related with biomedicine, optoelectronics, spintronics, and information technologies.  The great progress in the last two decades on the synthesis of chiral nanocolloids and their assemblies, chiral porous materials, chiral clusters, chiral soft nanostructured materials and chiral composites, to name a few, have made possible the discovery of new physical phenomena such as those related to the enhanced light-matter interactions and tunable Cosserat-Cauchy mechanics.

This special themed collection in Nanoscale, guest edited by Professor David Amabilino (ICMAB, Spain), Professor Jeanne Crassous (CNRS Institut des Sciences Chimiques de Rennes, France), Professor Pengfei Duan (NCNST, China) and Professor Nicholas Kotov (University of Michigan, USA), aims to provide a platform to showcase the latest progress and challenges in chiral nanomaterials. The scope of the collection is broad, including but not limited to, the following topics;

• Novel synthesis strategies
• Self-assembled chiral nanomaterials
• Chiral nanoparticles and plasmonics
• Complex chiral materials
• Bioinspired chiral nanostructures
• Porous chiral nanostructures
• Theoretical understanding of the chiral materials
• New chirality and asymmetry measures
• Materials with chirality continuum
• Spectroscopy of chiral nanomaterials
• Terahertz and long-wave circular dichroism
• Advanced characterization techniques
• Chirality Induced Spin Selectivity
• Chiral catalysis
• Biosensors
• Light emitting devices
• Chiral metastructures

Submissions deadline extended to 30 September 2024

How to submit

Submissions to the collection should fit within the scope of Nanoscale – Please see the journals’ websites for more information on the journal’s scope, standards, article types and author guidelines. All manuscripts will undergo the normal initial assessment and peer review processes, if appropriate, in line with the journal’s high standards, managed by the journal editors. Accepted manuscripts will be added to the online collection as soon as they are published and they will be featured in a regular issue of the relevant journal. Please note that peer review or acceptance are not guaranteed. 

If you would like to contribute to this themed collection, please submit your article directly through the journal submissions platform. Please mention that your submission is a contribution to the Chiral Nanomaterials collection in the “Themed issues” section of the submission form and is in response to 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 as such inclusion of accepted articles in the final themed collection is not guaranteed.

If you have any questions about the collection or the submissions process, please do contact the Editorial Office at nanoscale-rsc@rsc.org.

We look forward to receiving your latest work and considering it for this collection!