Read this HOT Nanoscale communication today:
Optical modulation of ZnO microwire optical resonators with a parallelogram cross-section
Yang Liu, Hongxing Dong, Shulin Sun, Wenhui Liu, Jinxin Zhan, Zhanghai Chen, Jun Wang and Long Zhang
DOI: 10.1039/C3NR00700F
We are delighted to welcome Professor Dirk Guldi as a new Associate Editor for Nanoscale. Professor Guldi is one of the world-leading scientists in the field of charge transfer/nanocarbons. In particular, he is well-known for his contributions to the areas of charge-separation in donor-acceptor materials and construction of nanostructured thin films for solar energy conversion.
His research at the Friedrich Alexander University of Erlangen-Nuremberg involves the application of an arsenal of spectroscopic and microscopic techniques to a variety of molecular systems designed specifically to explore the nature of the chemical, physical and photophysical properties of new molecular hybrids, quantum dots, quantum rods and nanoparticles. He is also interested in designing and synthesising novel nanometer scale structures in combination with electron donors as integrative components for electron-donor-acceptor ensembles.
Prof. Guldi is handling papers and so we encourage you to submit to his editorial office.
If you wish to create new research collaborations with Chinese Universities, you can now apply for the RSC-SAFEA visiting researcher programme.
Call for applications are open until the 20th May 2013.
Please email: international@rsc.org to register your interest in participating in the programme. Read more from previous researchers who have participated in this programme in 2010-2012 http://my.rsc.org/blogs/74.
The State Administration for Foreign Experts Affairs (SAFEA) is a division of the Chinese Government with which RSC has a cooperation agreement. Under this agreement the RSC and SAFEA will jointly fund researchers from the UK to visit Chinese Universities. The purpose of the visits is to stimulate collaboration between UK and Chinese institutions. They will allow the visitor to contribute their experience towards the development of excellent emerging science and build links with the Chinese Chemistry community.
In addition, the visitor will advise Chinese research groups on all aspects of presenting their research to an international audience. The programme will strengthen links between the UK and Chinese Science and between the RSC and our partners in China.
Collaborators in the US and China have demonstrated that by changing the diameter of cellulose fibres in nanopaper they can tailor its optical properties for use in optoelectronics.
In this work, Zhichao Ruan from Zhejiang University and Liangbing Hu from the University of Maryland have looked at the effect of changing the fibre diameter and packing density in transparent nanopaper. ‘Specular transmittance measures light in the normal direction, whereas diffusive transmittance refers to the forward direction’ explains Hu. ‘As the fibre diameter decreases, the overall transmittance, including both specular and diffusive transmittance, increases. But the difference between the two, which is related to the haze of the nanopaper, starts to decrease.’
Read the full article in Chemistry World!
Read the article in Nanoscale:
Transparent nanopaper with tailored optical properties
Hongli Zhu, Sepideh Parvinian, Colin Preston, Oeyvind Vaaland, Zhichao Ruan and Liangbing Hu
DOI: 10.1039/C3NR00520H
Gaoquan Shi and co-workers have made composite films comprising graphene oxide sheets and silk fibroin in a layered structure, which mimic natural nacre. They demonstrate a facile solution-casting method for incorporating the fibroin into graphene oxide.
The impressive mechanical properties of their material, surpassing those of natural nacre in some ways, make it potentially useful as a high-strength structural material. The biocompatibility of the material components also makes the composite promising for biological applications, such as tissue engineering.
Read this HOT article today:
Strong composite films with layered structures prepared by casting silk fibroin–graphene oxide hydrogels
Liang Huang, Chun Li, Wenjing Yuan and Gaoquan Shi
DOI: 10.1039/C3NR00196B
Liangfang Zhang et al. show that their membrane translocation approach is very effective for functionalizing nanoparticles with molecules of CD47 in their recent Nanoscale Communication. They were able to coat nanoparticles with immunomodulatory proteins at an equivalent density to those on red blood cells, and in the correct orientation.
Read this HOT article today:
‘Marker-of-self’ functionalization of nanoscale particles through a top-down cellular membrane coating approach
Che-Ming J. Hu, Ronnie H. Fang, Brian T. Luk, Kevin N. H. Chen, Cody Carpenter, Weiwei Gao, Kang Zhang and Liangfang Zhang
DOI: 10.1039/C3NR00015J
Lixia Yuan, Yunhui Huang and co-workers report a simple one-pot method to synthesize a nanocluster composite assembled by interconnected ultrafine SnO2@C nanospheres in their recent Nanoscale paper. They found that with a mixture of sodium carboxyl methyl cellulose and styrene butadiene rubber as a binder, the SnO2@C nanocluster anode exhibits superior cycling stability and rate capability.
Electrode materials are crucial for the overall performance of lithium ion batteries. Graphite is a traditionally used anode material, and tin dioxide is one promising alternative with a higher theoretical lithium storage capacity. However, the practical use of tin dioxide is limited by its rapid capacity fading, low initial coulombic efficiency and poor rate performance. Scientists from China have recently come up with a clever solution to these problems by skilfully combining SnO2@C nanoclusters with a suitable binder.
Read this HOT article today:
A SnO2@carbon nanocluster anode material with superior cyclability and rate capability for lithium-ion batteries
Min He, Lixia Yuan, Xianluo Hu, Wuxing Zhang, Jie Shu and Yunhui Huang
DOI: 10.1039/C3NR34133J
Lee Barrett is a guest web-writer for Nanoscale. He is currently a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Strathclyde, UK.
Huanxin Cai and Ping Yao, from Fudan University, have developed a facile and green approach for the synthesis of gold nanoparticle conjugates prepared from a lys-dex nangel, comprising a lysozyme core with a dextran shell. The Au@lys-dex nangels loaded with doxorubicin show the same antitumour activity as free doxorubicin, showing the potential of the nanogels for drug delivery applications.
By mixing the lys-dex nanogel and chloroauric acid at pH 4, gold nanoparticles can be synthesized by inducing the reduction of Au3+ using UV photo-irradiation. The synthesis process was monitored by UV-Vis spectroscopy indicating that 2 hours of UV-irradiation is sufficient to produce gold nanoparticles with a surface plasmon band centered at 536 nm. The authors report that the gold nanoparticle morphology can be controlled by altering the pH of the reaction, thereby leading to nanoparticles with sizes of 11, 8 and 4 nm at pH 2, 4 and 6, respectively.
Due to the plasmonic properties of the nanoparticles, the Au@lys-dex nanogels can also be used as contrast agents for optical microscopy imaging. The authors have therefore devised a nanoparticle system for simultaneous drug delivery and biomedical imaging applications.
by Dr Lee Barrett
Read the full details of this HOT Nanoscale paper today:
In situ preparation of gold nanoparticle-loaded lysozyme–dextran nanogels and applications for cell imaging and drug delivery
Huanxin Cai and Ping Yao
DOI: 10.1039/C3NR00178D
This month sees the following articles in Nanoscale that are in the top ten most accessed for January:
Nanostructured carbon–metal oxide composite electrodes for supercapacitors: a review
Mingjia Zhi , Chengcheng Xiang , Jiangtian Li , Ming Li and Nianqiang Wu
Nanoscale, 2013,5, 72-88
DOI: 10.1039/C2NR32040A
Graphene transfer: key for applications
Junmo Kang , Dolly Shin , Sukang Bae and Byung Hee Hong
Nanoscale, 2012,4, 5527-5537
DOI: 10.1039/C2NR31317K
Recent advances in the efficient reduction of graphene oxide and its application as energy storage electrode materials
Tapas Kuila , Ananta Kumar Mishra , Partha Khanra , Nam Hoon Kim and Joong Hee Lee
Nanoscale, 2013,5, 52-71
DOI: 10.1039/C2NR32703A
Graphene synthesis: relationship to applications
Rebecca S. Edwards and Karl S. Coleman
Nanoscale, 2013,5, 38-51
DOI: 10.1039/C2NR32629A
Upconversion nanoparticles and their composite nanostructures for biomedical imaging and cancer therapy
Liang Cheng , Chao Wang and Zhuang Liu
Nanoscale, 2013,5, 23-37
DOI: 10.1039/C2NR32311G
Core–shell sulfur@polypyrrole composites as high-capacity materials for aqueous rechargeable batteries
Jie Shao , Xinyong Li , Li Zhang , Qunting Qu and Honghe Zheng
Nanoscale, 2013,5, 1460-1464
DOI: 10.1039/C2NR33590E
Advances in 2D boron nitride nanostructures: nanosheets, nanoribbons, nanomeshes, and hybrids with graphene
Yi Lin and John W. Connell
Nanoscale, 2012,4, 6908-6939
DOI: 10.1039/C2NR32201C
Magnetic Fe3O4–graphene composites as targeted drug nanocarriers for pH-activated release
Xiujuan Fan , Guozheng Jiao , Wei Zhao , Pengfei Jin and Xin Li
Nanoscale, 2013,5, 1143-1152
DOI: 10.1039/C2NR33158F
Dopamine as the coating agent and carbon precursor for the fabrication of N-doped carbon coated Fe3O4 composites as superior lithium ion anodes
Cheng Lei , Fei Han , Duo Li , Wen-Cui Li , Qiang Sun , Xiang-Qian Zhang and An-Hui Lu
Nanoscale, 2013,5, 1168-1175
DOI: 10.1039/C2NR33043A
Self-assembly of hierarchical star-like Co3O4 micro/nanostructures and their application in lithium ion batteries
Li Li , Kuok Hau Seng , Zhixin Chen , Zaiping Guo and Hua Kun Liu
Nanoscale, 2013,5, 1922-1928
DOI: 10.1039/C2NR33223J
Why not take a look at the articles today and blog your thoughts and comments below.
Fancy submitting an article to Nanoscale? Then why not submit to us today!
A method of manufacturing porous nanolayers using temperature sensitive substrates has been developed by scientists working in Germany.
Traditionally such materials are made using flame spray pyrolysis (FSP), but this process is limited by the thermal sensitivity of the substrate onto which the nanoparticles are coated. Furthermore the mechanical stability of the layers is often weak in liquid environments.
The new process involves separating the pyrolysis step from the introduction of the final substrate material. In stage one the nanoparticles (eg titanium dioxide) are coated onto an initial substrate, using FSP, to create an intermediate porous nanolayer material. In stage two a new substrate is applied to the intermediate material to create a ‘nanoparticle sandwich’, which is passed through rollers under pressure and at low temperature. The nanoparticle layer transfers to the new substrate to yield the final material.
The technique produces materials that have superior mechanical stability, and opens up the possibility of using different substrates, such as polypropylene foil.
Read this HOT Nanoscale article today:
Transfer of highly porous nanoparticle layers to various substrates through mechanical compression
Sven Oliver Schopf, Samir Salameh and Lutz Mädler
DOI: 10.1039/C3NR34235B
