Nanoscale & Nanoscale Advances Blog

Issues 11 & 12 of Nanoscale are now online.

Issue 11 Highlights:

The outside front cover of Issue 11 features an article on the Bundling dynamics regulates the active mechanics and transport in carbon nanotube networks and their nanocomposites by Myung Gwan Hahm, Hailong Wang, Hyun Young Jung, Sanghyun Hong, Sung-Goo Lee, Sung-Ryong Kim,  Moneesh Upmanyu and Yung Joon Jung.

Development of viral nanoparticles for efficient intracellular delivery is the article highlighted on the inside front cover by Zhuojun Wu, Kevin Chen, Ibrahim Yildiz, Anouk Dirksen, Rainer Fischer, Philip E. Dawson and Nicole F. Steinmetz.

Issue 11 also contains the following Feature and Review articles:

• Chitin nanofibers: preparations, modifications, and applications
  Shinsuke Ifuku and Hiroyuki Saimoto
  DOI: 10.1039/C2NR30383C
• Polymer coated inorganic nanoparticles: tailoring the nanocrystal surface for designing nanoprobes with biological implications
  Alessandra Quarta, Alberto Curcio, Hamilton Kakwere and Teresa Pellegrino
  DOI: 10.1039/C2NR30271C
• Preparation, properties and applications of polysaccharide nanocrystals in advanced functional nanomaterials: a review
  Ning Lin, Jin Huang and Alain Dufresne
  DOI: 10.1039/C2NR30260H
• Methane storage in molecular nanostructures
  Olumide O. Adisa, Barry J. Cox and James M. Hill
  DOI: 10.1039/C2NR00042C 

Issue 12 Highlights:

Issue 12 of Nanoscale highlights a Communication on Saddles, twists, and curls: shape transitions in freestanding nanoribbons by Hailong Wang and Moneesh Upmanyu on the outside front cover.

The inside front cover shows a Feature Article on the Impacts of core–shell structures on properties of lanthanide-based nanocrystals: crystal phase, lattice strain, downconversion, upconversion and energy transfer by Arik Kar and Amitava Patra. 

Issue 12 also contains the following high-impact Communications:

• Selected region functionalized fungi with magnetic targeting properties and versatile purification capabilities
  Xiaolei Wang, Hui Zhu, Jia Zhang, Xuexia Liu, Fan Yang and Xiurong Yang
  DOI: 10.1039/C2NR30766A
• Bio-functionalization of ligand-free upconverting lanthanide doped nanoparticles for bio-imaging and cell targeting
  Nicoleta Bogdan, Emma Martín Rodríguez, Francisco Sanz-Rodríguez, M a Carmen Iglesias de la Cruz, Ángeles Juarranz, Daniel Jaque, José García Solé and John A. Capobianco
  DOI: 10.1039/C2NR30982C
• Synthesis of micro-sized SnO2@carbon hollow spheres with enhanced lithium storage properties
  Shujiang Ding, Dongyang Zhang, Hao Bin Wu, Zhicheng Zhang and Xiong Wen (David) Lou
  DOI: 10.1039/C2NR30841J
• A graphene oxide (GO)-based molecular beacon for DNA-binding transcription factor detection
  Jing-Jing Liu, Xiao-Rong Song, Yi-Wei Wang, Guo-Nan Chen and Huang-Hao Yang
  DOI: 10.1039/C2NR30499F

Yadon Yin and coworkers of the University of California, Riverside have studied the magnetic properties of  Fe₃O₄@SiO₂ core/shell particles. They found that the packing of the particles changed from a polycrystalline fcc to a single-crystalline-like hexagonal arrangement depending on the applied magnetic field.

The authors suggest their finding may have important implications in the creation of new materials based on colloids.

Read this exciting Nanoscale Communication in full today:

Self-assembly and magnetically induced phase transition of three-dimensional colloidal photonic crystals
Le He, Vikas Malik, Mingsheng Wang, Yongxing Hu, Francesca Edith Anson and Yadong Yin
DOI: 10.1039/C2NR31068F

Fabrizio Gelain and co-workers have developed a biocompatible scaffold which is capable of encouraging the regeneration of neural precursor cells derived from neural stem cell in mice. The regeneration of nerve tissue after spinal injury is important but difficult to achieve. The groups reports a promising strategy for neural cell regeneration and they suggest that the approach may have wider applications in other areas of tissue engineering.

One of the stunning images of the mouse neurons they studied has been selected to feature in Chemistry World‘s Chemistry through the lens feature.

Zeiss Apotome microscopy showing a highly organised network of beta-tubulin positive (green) murine neurons, GFAP (red) astrocytes and nuclei marked with DAPI (blue).

Read this exciting research paper in full today:

New bioactive motifs and their use in functionalized self-assembling peptides for NSC differentiation and neural tissue engineering
F. Gelain , D. Cigognini , A. Caprini , D. Silva , B. Colleoni , M. Donegá , S. Antonini , B. E. Cohen and A. Vescovi
DOI: 10.1039/C2NR30220A

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