Nanoscale & Nanoscale Advances Blog

Chinese scientists studying the wings of the Trogonoptera Brookiana butterfly have discovered that the light trapping structures which cause the iridescent colours we see are caused by two distinct types of nanostructure one on the front and one on the back of the wing.

Understanding how these natural structures function can give great insight for engineering materials with these properties and could have applications from solar cells to stealth technology.

Read this HOT article in full:

Light Trapping Structures in Wing Scales of Butterfly Trogonoptera Brookiana
Zhiwu Han , shichao niu , Chunhui Shang , Zhenning Liu and Luquan Ren
Nanoscale, 2012
DOI: 10.1039/C2NR12059C 

Mercury pollution can cause major problems for the health of humans, fish and wildlife. Scientists based in Singapore now report a sensitive sensor for the Hg²⁺ ions present in aqueous environments which is also inexpensive and easy to produce. The system is based on Ag⁺-based nanoparticles the luminescence of which is quenched in the presence of mercury ions.

Read this HOT Nanoscale communication today:

Highly luminescent Ag⁺ nanoclusters for Hg²⁺ ion detection
Xun Yuan , Teik Jin Yeow , Qingbo Zhang , Jim Yang Lee and Jianping Xie
DOI: 10.1039/C2NR11999D

Scientists working in China, the USA and Korea have reported a new material – tungsten-doped MoO₂ – which displays enhanced lithium storage capability. The material takes the best attributes of  of MoO₂ and WO₂– high capacity and superior electroactivity, respectively – to give a material with an overall improved performance, and with great potential for use in lithium ion batteries.

Read this HOT Nanoscale communication today:

Enhanced Li storage performance of ordered mesoporous MoO₂ via tungsten doping
Xiangpeng Fang , Bingkun Guo , Yifeng Shi , Bin Li , Chunxiu Hua , Chaohua Yao , Yichi Zhang , Yong-Sheng Hu , Zhaoxiang Wang , Galen D. Stucky and Liquan Chen
DOI: 10.1039/C2NR12017H

This high-profile Feature Article discusses the balance between beneficial and adverse health effects of engineered nanomaterials.

It concludes that current evidence suggests that the beneficial effects of engineered nanomaterials far outweigh the concerns for their safety.

Read this highly topical feature review article today:

Feature Article
Health implications of engineered nanomaterials
Antonio Pietroiusti
Nanoscale, 2012, DOI: 10.1039/C2NR11688J

This Feature Article forms part of a series of review articles which cover the theme ‘Nanotechnology: Health, Environmental and Societal Impacts’.

Further articles will be published soon so watch this space!

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A recent Nanoscale Feature article by Svetlana V. Boriskina and Björn M. Reinhard has been highlighted in the Nanotimes magazine, Nanowerk News , R&D Magazine, and Energy Harvesting Journal. The article describes a new way to efficiently trap and enhance light in nanoscale structures and nanopatterned thin films, which could have exciting applications in biosensing, photovoltaics and quantum computing.

Read this fascinating Nanoscale article today!

Molding the flow of light on the nanoscale: from vortex nanogears to phase-operated plasmonic machinery
Svetlana V. Boriskina and Björn M. Reinhard
Nanoscale, 2012, 4, 76-90
DOI: 10.1039/C1NR11406A

Carbon quantum dots with honeycomb structures have been made by scientists in China and the US to support gold nanoparticles in surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) applications. The dots enable SERS sensitivity 8–11 times stronger than the currently used gold nanoparticles.

SERS is an ultrasensitive technique used to detect trace molecules. The gold’s function is to enhance Raman scattering to result in the surface enhanced Raman scattering effect. A current way to improve this effect for a more sensitive signal is to replace the planar surface on which the gold nanoparticles are placed with unique nanoporous superaligned carbon nanotube films with cross-stacking.

Now, the team have achieved further enhancement with their honeycomb quantum dots.

Read the ‘HOT’ Nanoscale article:

Honeycomb Architecture of Carbon Quantum Dots: A New Efficient Substrate to Support Gold for Stronger SERS
Y Fan et al, Nanoscale, 2012
DOI: 10.1039/c2nr12015a