A collection highlighting 2023’s rising stars of nanoscience and nanotechnology research

Nanoscale is proud to present our annual Emerging Investigators collection, recognising the rising stars of nanoscience and nanotechnology by gathering some of the very best work from researchers in the early stages of their independent careers. Each contributor was recommended by experts in their fields for carrying out work with the potential to influence future directions in nanoscience and nanotechnology.

Please join us in congratulating our featured researchers on their important work so far! You can explore the collection and profiles of our Emerging Investigators below, with all articles free to access until the end of August 2023.

Read the collection

Meet the scientists

Congratulations to all of the featured researchers, we hope you enjoy reading these articles and look forward to sharing more work from early-career nano researchers with you soon!

Nanomaterials for printed electronics

Guest edited by Cinzia Casiraghi, Oana Jurchescu, Shlomo Magdassi and Wenming Su

Printed electronics have witnessed significant interest within the last few decades, in particular in conjunction with the development of the Internet of Things (IoTs). The digitization of machines, vehicles, and elements of the physical world could completely change the way we interact with objects and collect and get access to data, leading to improved quality of life and reduced costs. This collection explores a multitude of applications within the field and aims to exhibit new and exciting prospects for nanomaterials in printed electronics.

We are delighted to introduce a new online collection published in Nanoscale that explores a multitude of applications within the field and aims to exhibit new and exciting prospects for nanomaterials in printed electronics. All of the articles in the collection are free to access until the end of August 2023.

Read the collection

The guest editors, Professor Cinzia Casiraghi (University of Manchester, UK), Professor Oana Jurchescu (Wake Forest University, USA), Professor Shlomo Magdassi (Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel) and Professor Wenming Su (Suzhou Institute of Nano-Tech and Nano-Bionics, China), introduce this collection in their editorial.

Read the introductory editorial

Read some of the featured articles below.

A sprayed graphene transistor platform for rapid and low-cost chemical sensing
Benji Fenech-Salerno, Martin Holicky, Chengning Yao, Anthony E. G. Cass and Felice Torrisi
Nanoscale, 2023, DOI: 10.1039/D2NR05838C

High performance printed organic electrochromic devices based on an optimized UV curable solid-state electrolyte
Chenchao Huang, Zishou Hu, Yuan-Qiu-Qiang Yi, Xiaolian Chen, Xinzhou Wu, Wenming Su and Zheng Cui
Nanoscale, 2022, DOI: 10.1039/D2NR03209K

Visualisation of individual dopants in a conjugated polymer: sub-nanometre 3D spatial distribution and correlation with electrical properties
Gustav Persson, Emmy Järsval, Magnus Röding, Renee Kroon, Yadong Zhang, Stephen Barlow, Seth Marder, Christian Müller and Eva Olsson
Nanoscale, 2022, DOI: 10.1039/D2NR03554E

Ionic dielectrics for fully printed carbon nanotube transistors: impact of composition and induced stresses
Brittany N. Smith, Hope Meikle, James L. Doherty, Shiheng Lu, Gianna Tutoni, Matthew L. Becker, Michael J. Therien and Aaron D. Franklin
Nanoscale, 2022, DOI: 10.1039/D2NR04206A

Plasmon enhanced fluorescence from meticulously positioned gold nanoparticles, deposited by ultra sonic spray coating on organic light emitting diodes
Rachith Shanivarasanthe Nithyananda Kumar, Maarten Eerdekens, Yovan de Coene, Veda Sandeep Nagaraja, Shabnam Ahadzadeh, Melissa Vanlandeghem, Thierry Verbiest and Wim Deferme
Nanoscale Adv., 2023, DOI: 10.1039/D2NA00753C

Nanoscale is always interested in considering high-quality articles on nanomaterials for printed electronics and we would be delighted if you would consider the journal for your next submission, which can be made via our online submission service. All submissions will be subject to initial assessment and peer review as appropriate according to the journal’s guidelines.

We hope you enjoy reading this collection and look forward to seeing how this field progresses! Please continue to submit your exciting work on printed electronics to Nanoscale.

Epitaxial growth of nanostructures and their properties

Guest edited by Jin Zou

We are delighted to present to you a diverse set of works showcasing the development of epitaxial nanostructures, in which their outstanding properties are obtained due to the epitaxy.

A key fabrication technique for nanoscale materials is the bottom-up approach. Epitaxial growth allows the grown nanostructures to have well defined orientation relationships, crystallographic directions/planes, crystal structures/phases, and facets/interfaces with their underlying substrates. Such unique features are often essential for securing their unique and high-efficient applications.

In the recent decades, epitaxial growth has been widely employed to grow various advanced nanostructures, including semiconductor nanostructures (such as quantum dots, semiconductor nanowires and quantum wells), 2D nanostructures (including ultra-thin nanosheets), and hierarchical nanostructured metal-organic frameworks (MOF-on-MOF).

This themed collection features work covering the development of these three groups of epitaxial nanostructures, in which their outstanding properties are obtained due to the epitaxy. Articles are published in Nanoscale Advances so they are all open access and freely available.

A small selection of papers are featured below:

Epitaxial growth of crystal phase quantum dots in III–V semiconductor nanowires
Miguel Sinusia Lozano and Víctor J. Gómez
Nanoscale Adv., 2023, 5, 1890-1909

Complications in silane-assisted GaN nanowire growth
Nian Jiang, Saptarsi Ghosh, Martin Frentrup, Simon M. Fairclough, Kagiso Loeto, Gunnar Kusch, Rachel A. Oliver and Hannah J. Joyce
Nanoscale Adv., 2023, 5, 2610-2620

Polarization-dependent plasmonic heating in epitaxially grown multilayered metal–organic framework thin films embedded with Ag nanoparticles
Kenji Okada, Risa Mashita, Arisa Fukatsu and Masahide Takahashi
Nanoscale Adv., 2023, 5, 1795-1801

We hope you enjoy reading the special collection!

Call For Papers: Theranostic nanoplatforms for biomedicine

Guest edited by Nguyen T. K. Thanh, Sophie Laurent, Sylvie Begin-Colin and Teresa Pellegrino ‬‬

We are delighted to announce a call for papers for our latest online themed collection in Nanoscale on Theranostic nanoplatforms for biomedicine that is being guest edited by Professor Nguyen T. K. Thanh (University College London, UK), Professor Sophie Laurent (University of Mons, Belgium), Professor Sylvie Begin-Colin (University of Strasbourg, France) and Professor Teresa Pellegrino (Italian Institute of Technology, Italy).

For nanomedicine to fill its promise, either direct intratumoral injection or active targeting with affinity ligands to achieve favourable specificity and biodistribution profiles is critical for accurate detection, monitoring and therapeutic efficacy. Such smart approaches, when translated to clinical uses, will have a great impact on the management of cancer and other diseases to improve patient survival and quality of life. However, for further clinical translation of nanoplatforms, a key step is their scale-up.

This new collection in Nanoscale focuses on the design of multifunctional hybrid nanomaterials for theranostics in biomedicine, with a focus on the scaling-up of these nanomaterials for translational studies. The scope of this collection loosely aligns with an accompanying symposium held at the 2023 Spring E-MRS meeting: Symposium J – Design and scaling up of theranostic nanoplatforms for health: towards translational studies, in Strasbourg, from 29 May – 2 June 2023. Potential topics include but are not limited to:

• Design, synthesis and characterization of nanoparticles: inorganic, polymers, liposomes, dendrimers
• Targeting strategies
• Multimodal Imaging (e.g., MRI, MPI, SPECT, PET)
• Multimodal therapy (e.g., hyperthermia, curie therapy)
• Drug delivery
• Nanotoxicology
• In vitro and in vivo validation of nanoplatforms combining multimodal imaging and therapies
• Scaling-up strategies of nanoplatform synthesis
• New synthesis processes taking into account good manufacturing practice (GMP) and environmental considerations

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

• Communications
• Full papers

Open for submissions until 31 March 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 a contribution to the Theranostic nanoplatforms for biomedicine 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 Nguyen T. K. Thanh, University College London, UK
Professor Sophie Laurent, University of Mons, Belgium
Professor Sylvie Begin-Colin, University of Strasbourg, France
Professor Teresa Pellegrino, Italian Institute of Technology, Italy

Call For Papers: Fundamental processes in optical nanomaterials

Guest edited by Arindam Chowdhury, Eva Hemmer, Alison Funston and Jon Veinot ‬‬

We are delighted to announce a call for papers for our latest online themed collection in Nanoscale and ChemComm on Fundamental processes in optical nanomaterials that is being guest edited by Professor Arindam Chowdhury (IIT Bombay, India), Dr Alison Funston (Monash University, Australia),  Professor Eva Hemmer (University of Ottawa, Canada) and Professor Jonathan Veinot (University of Alberta, Canada).

Advanced optical nanomaterials are the building block to innovative technologies that have the potential to address societal challenges from energy to health. Optical nanomaterials offer solutions to more efficient energy harvesting and energy conversion technologies, to enhanced data storage and fast and secure telecommunication, or to more efficient and personalized biomedical approaches, to name just a few examples. To achieve the goal of real-life applications, better understanding of known processes and the discovery of new fundamental phenomena is key.

This special cross-journal collection in Nanoscale and ChemComm aims to look at new phenomena in optical nanomaterials, without the need for applications to be fully realized. We hope to feature research reporting new processes, phenomena and observations, and applications are welcomed but we are also excited to see reports of new and interesting fundamental science. Potential topics include but are not limited to:

• Luminescent materials
• Scattering materials
• Metamaterials
• Plasmonics
• Nanophotonics
• Fundamental processes in optical materials (although applications can be included)
• New techniques or methods of analysis
• Spectroscopy of materials
• Single-particle imaging
• Light interaction with nanomaterials in tissues

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

• Communications
• Full papers

Open for submissions until 31 July 2023

If you would like to contribute to this themed collection, you can submit your article directly through the Nanoscale online submission service. or the ChemComm online submission service. Please mention that this submission is a contribution to the Fundamental processes in optical nanomaterials 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 be subject to initial assessment and rigorous peer review to meet the usual high standards of the journals and acceptance is 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 Arindam Chowdhury, IIT Bombay, India
Dr Alison Funston, Monash University, Australia
Professor Eva Hemmer, University of Ottawa, Canada
Professor Jonathan Veinot, University of Alberta, Canada

Contribute to a new themed collection in Nanoscale Advances

We are delighted to announce an open call for papers to our new themed collection focusing on Nanoclusters: From Theory to Application.

Guest Editors: Yi Gao (Shanghai Advanced Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China), Daojian Cheng (Beijing University of Chemical Technology, China) and Zhigang Wang (Jilin University, China).

Nanoclusters are small-sized nanoparticles with unique and tunable properties depending on their sizes, structures and compositions. They have potential applications in various fields such as biomedicine, catalysis, energy and nanotechnology. This themed collection is intended to present the most recent developments in the synthesis, characterization, and application of nanoclusters in theoretical and experimental research. It will cover topics such as nanocluster stability, electronic structures, reactivity, magnetism, optical properties, alloying effects, self-assembly and functionalization. The collection will also highlight the challenges and opportunities for nanocluster research and development.

You are welcome to submit an original research article within the scope before 31 October 2023.

If you are interested in contributing to this collection, please get in touch with the Editorial Office by email at nanoscaleadvances-rsc@rsc.org 

Please note that article processing charges apply to all articles submitted to Nanoscale Advances if, following peer-review, they are accepted for publication. Details of the APC and discounted rates can be found here.

Contribute to a new themed collection in Nanoscale Advances

We are delighted to announce an open call for papers to our new themed collection focusing on nanocatalysis beyond CO₂ activation!

Guest Editors: Yude Su (University of Science and Technology of China, China) and Yanwei Lum (National University of Singapore, Singapore)

Electrocatalysis is crucial for facilitating the sustainable production of chemical feedstocks and chemical fuels. For example, CO₂ reduction to value-added chemicals has attracted significant research interest in recent years. Beyond this topic, research efforts are urgently needed to expand the spectrum of electrocatalytic reactions to enable more avenues for decarbonization. Hence, this themed collection will focus on important and upcoming areas of electrocatalytic reactions, including but not limited to nitrogen reduction, upgrading of biomass derived molecules and hydrogen peroxide production. Of interest here is the important role that nanoscience can play in the development of electrocatalytic materials to efficiently facilitate these reactions.

You are welcome to submit an original research article within the scope before 15 December 2023.

If you are interested in contributing to this collection, please get in touch with the Editorial Office by email at nanoscaleadvances-rsc@rsc.org 

Please note that article processing charges apply to all articles submitted to Nanoscale Advances if, following peer-review, they are accepted for publication. Details of the APC and discounted rates can be found here.