Superior Li battery materials

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

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Health implications of engineered nanomaterials

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.

balanceRead 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!

Sign-up to our free e-alerts to be notified when they are published.

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Top 10 most-read Nanoscale articles in December

This month sees the following articles in Nanoscale that are in the top ten most accessed for December:

3D-patterned polymer brush surfaces 
Xuechang Zhou, Xuqing Liu, Zhuang Xie and Zijian Zheng 
Nanoscale, 2011, 3, 4929-4939 
DOI: 10.1039/C1NR11238D 

Aligned Si nanowire-based solar cells 
Junshuai Li, HongYu Yu and Yali Li 
Nanoscale, 2011, 3, 4888-4900 
DOI: 10.1039/C1NR10943J 

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 

Multifunctional composite core–shell nanoparticles 
Suying Wei, Qiang Wang, Jiahua Zhu, Luyi Sun, Hongfei Lin and Zhanhu Guo 
Nanoscale, 2011, 3, 4474-4502 
DOI: 10.1039/C1NR11000D 

Graphene edges: a review of their fabrication and characterization 
Xiaoting Jia, Jessica Campos-Delgado, Mauricio Terrones, Vincent Meunier and Mildred S. Dresselhaus 
Nanoscale, 2011, 3, 86-95 
DOI: 10.1039/C0NR00600A 

Theranostic nanoplatforms for simultaneous cancer imaging and therapy: current approaches and future perspectives 
Ki Young Choi, Gang Liu, Seulki Lee and Xiaoyuan Chen 
Nanoscale, 2012, 4, 330-342 
DOI: 10.1039/C1NR11277E 

Graphene decoration with metal nanoparticles: Towards easy integration for sensing applications 
Albert Gutés, Ben Hsia, Allen Sussman, Willi Mickelson, Alex Zettl, Carlo Carraro and Roya Maboudian 
Nanoscale, 2012, 4, 438-440 
DOI: 10.1039/C1NR11537E 

2D materials: to graphene and beyond 
Rubén Mas-Ballesté, Cristina Gómez-Navarro, Julio Gómez-Herrero and Félix Zamora 
Nanoscale, 2011, 3, 20-30 
DOI: 10.1039/C0NR00323A 

Facile in situ fabrication of graphene–upconversion hybrid materials with amplified electrogenerated chemiluminescence 
Meili Yin, Li Wu, Zhenhua Li, Jinsong Ren and Xiaogang Qu 
Nanoscale, 2012, 4, 400-404 
DOI: 10.1039/C1NR11393C 

One-Step Hydrothermal Synthesis of N-TiO2/C Nanocomposites with High Photocatalytic Activity under Visible Light Irradiation
 
Dong-Hong Wang, Li Jia, Xi-Lin Wu, Li-Qiang Lu and An-Wu Xu 
Nanoscale, 2012, 4, 576-584 
DOI: 10.1039/C1NR11353D 

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!

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Light on the nanoscale: Feature article hits the news!

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

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Stronger SERS with honeycomb quantum dots

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

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Nanoscale Issue 3 of 2012 out now!

The latest issue of Nanoscale is now online. You can read the full issue here.





The outside front cover features an article on Low temperature, template-free route to nickel thin films and nanowires by Meital Shviro and David Zitoun.







Superhydrophobic gecko feet with high adhesive forces towards water and their bio-inspired materials is the article highlighted on the inside front cover by Kesong Liu, Jiexing Du, Juntao Wu and Lei Jiang.




Issue 3 contains the following Feature articles:

Fancy submitting an article to Nanoscale? Then why not submit to us today!

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New use for graphene sounds great

Recently knighted Sirs Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov must feel a bit like The Beatles. Not because they have legions of adoring screaming fans (well, they might, but science isn’t as sexy as rock music), but because you could probably draw parallels between the influences of the Liverpudlian quartet on music and the isolation of graphene on materials science.

Graphenemania doesn’t seem to be abating any time soon either. The latest episode of this incredible craze sees Tian-Ling Ren and his team at Tsinghua University in Beijing taking advantage of single-layer graphene’s (SLG) very low heat capacity per unit area (one of its many remarkable properties) to use it as a sound-emitting material.

Device structure of the grapene "speaker".

The researchers created a device using electrodes deposited onto two ends of a sheet of SLG, which itself is placed on an anodic aluminium oxide substrate. When an electric sound-frequency signal is applied to the graphene, sound is produced through the thermoacoustic effect. In short, when electricity passes through the graphene, the heat produced is transferred to the air around the device surface. The fluctuations in this heat as the current itself fluctuates causes the air to vibrate, producing sound.

Although a previous piece of work has already used graphene in a thin and transparent sound-emitting device, it was merely used as electrodes. Significantly, this is the first time that the material has been demonstrated to actually be able to produce sound itself.

The team found that SLG has a sound pressure level of about 95 dB, which puts it on a par with that experienced when standing a metre from a disco speaker. This makes it ideal for uses such as speakers and earphones, perfect for science’s own ‘Fab Two’ to use to listen to Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.

Read more about this ‘rocking’ new application for graphene here.

Single-layer graphene sound-emitting devices: experiments and modeling
He Tian, Dan Xie, Yi Yang, Tian-Ling Ren, Yu-Feng Wang, Chang-Jian Zhou, Ping-Gang Peng, Li-Gang Wang and Li-Tian Liu
Nanoscale, 2012, DOI: 10.1039/C2NR11572G

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Call for papers: Metallic clusters themed issue

Nanoscale themed issue: Metallic Clusters

Guest Editors: Rongchao Jin (Carnegie Mellon University), Sang-Kee Eah (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute), Yong Pei (Xiangtan University, China)

We are delighted to announce a high-profile themed issue on “Metallic Clusters”, to be published in the exciting new high-impact journal Nanoscale in 2012. We invite you to contribute to this themed issue.

The aim of this issue is to address the fascinating field and recent discoveries in metallic nanoclusters. The themed issue will include high quality articles on metal nanocluster synthesis, properties (experimental and theoretical work), and applications.

Deadline for Submission: 29th February 2012

  • Submissions for the themed issue should be high quality manuscripts of original, unpublished research.
  • Both Communications and Full Papers can be submitted for consideration.
  • All submissions to the journal are subject to rigorous, fair peer review against our usual very high standards, and if accepted for publication will benefit from high exposure.
  • Manuscripts for this Nanoscale themed issue can be submitted in any reasonable format via our website. Please indicate upon submission that your manuscript is intended for this themed issue.

It is anticipated that the themed issue will be published in June 2012. Accepted papers will be published online as soon as they are ready, to avoid any delay.follow us on twitter

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Nanoscale Issue 2 of 2012 out now!

The latest issue of Nanoscale is now online. You can read the full issue here:




The outside front cover features an article on High-throughput ultrasensitive characterization of chemical, structural and plasmonic properties of EBL-fabricated single silver nanoparticles by Tao Huang, Wei Cao, Hani E. Elsayed-Ali and Xiao-Hong Nancy Xu .






Atomically thin layers of MoS2 via a two step thermal evaporation–exfoliation method is the article highlighted on the inside front cover by Sivacarendran Balendhran, Jian Zhen Ou, Madhu Bhaskaran, Sharath Sriram, Samuel Ippolito, Zoran Vasic, Eugene Kats, Suresh Bhargava, Serge Zhuiykov and Kourosh Kalantar-zadeh.



Issue 2 contains the following high-profile Reviews and Feature Articles:

Fancy submitting an article to Nanoscale? Then why not submit to us today!

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Cleaning cadmium from blood: Nanoscale article featured in Chemistry World

With the development of modern industries, heavy metal pollution in humans is on the rise, say researchers in China, who have now designed a supermagnetic nanocomposite to effectively remove one of the pollutants – cadmium ions – from blood.

Removal of cadmium ions from a human blood sample with a magnet

The nanocomposite binds to cadmium ions in the blood and a magnet is used to attract the resulting complex for removal

Cadmium ions damage organs and are carcinogenic. Materials currently being studied to clear them from human blood don’t possess all the required properties for this purpose.

They either have good selectivity, high saturation magnetisation or good water dispersibility, but not all three. The new composite, made by Jun Jin and Jiantai Ma from Lanzhou University and colleagues, combines all of these properties.

The team built up the nanocomposite – PAD-PEG-Fe3O4@PEI – from four components. The first was magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles, chosen for their low toxicity. The team coated them with polyethylenimine (PEI), which binds to cadmium ions. The coating also reduces the chances of nanoparticle uptake by red blood cells, maximising their circulation time in the blood. Polyethylene glycol (PEG) was grafted onto this as an anchor for negatively charged 2,2′-(phenylazanediyl) diacetic acid (PAD), which counteracts interactions between the nanoparticles and plasma proteins or white blood cells.

Interested to know more? Read the full article in Chemistry World here…

 Read the paper from Nanoscale:

2, 2′-(phenylazanediyl) diacetic acid modified Fe3O4@PEI for selective removal of cadmium ions from blood
Jun Jin, Fang Yang, Fengwei Zhang, Wuquan Hu, Shao-bo Sun and Jiantai Ma
Nanoscale, 2012, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C2NR11481J

Fancy submitting an article to Nanoscale? Then why not submit to us today!

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