The present study demonstrates an eco-friendly and low cost protocol for silver nanoparticles synthesis using cell-free filtrate of Aspergillus flavus.
Extracellular biosynthesis and characterization of silver nanoparticles using Aspergillus flavus NJP08: A mechanism perspective
Navin Jain, Arpit Bhargava, Sonali Majumdar, J. C. Tarafdar and Jitendra Panwar
Nanoscale, 2011, DOI: 10.1039/C0NR00656D
Can street lights be replaced by trees? Taiwanese scientists believe that they can using gold nanoparticles to induce luminescence in leaves.
Yen Hsun Su and coworkers at Academia Sinica and the National Cheng Kung University in Taipei and Tainan have tackled this problem by synthesising gold nanoparticles shaped like sea urchins and diffusing them into plant leaves to create bio-LEDs.
Yuandi Li
Read this exciting Nanoscale paper today:
Influence of surface plasmon resonance on the emission intermittency of photoluminescence from gold nano-sea-urchins
Y. H. Su, S.-L. Tu, S.-W. Tseng, Y.-C. Chang, S.-H. Chang and W.-M. Zhang, Nanoscale, 2010
DOI: 10.1039/C0NR00330A
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We welcome our newest Advisory Board member, Professor Hong-Bo Sun from Jilin University.
Hong-Bo Sun obtained BS and PhD degrees in electronics from Jilin University. After spending some time in Japan, he returned to Jilin University to become a full professor in 2005. His research in the passed 10 years has been focused on laser micro-nanofabrication, particularly in exploring novel laser technologies including direct writing and holographic lithography, as well as their applications on microoptics, micromachines, microfluids, and microsensors. |
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Nanoscale is pleased to announce the appointment of a new co-Editor-in-Chief, Professor Wei Lu. Wei Lu graduated in physics from Tsinghua University, Beijing, China, from where he moved to Houston, Texas to obtain a PhD from Rice University. He is currently an Assistant Professor in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, at the University of Michigan. His research interest lies in the application and fundamental understanding of nanostructures and nanodevices, including high-density memory and logic devices based on two-terminal resistive switches (memristors), and semiconductor nanowire based electronics. Professor Lu will join Professors Bai, Niederberger, Stellacci and Wang in handling Nanoscale submissions. Welcome! |
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Communication
Highly dispersed ultrafine Pt and PtRu nanoparticles on graphene: formation mechanism and electrocatalytic activity
C. Nethravathi, E. A. Anumol, M. Rajamathi and N. Ravishankar
Nanoscale, 2011, Advance Article, DOI: 10.1039/C0NR00664E
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Ravishankar and colleagues demostrate a strategy for obtaining a high dispersion of ultrafine Pt and PtRu nanoparticles on graphene. This new methodology opens up new possibilities for the preparation of graphene-based hybrids for applications in multifunctional nanoscale devices. |
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Just published
N Hild, O D Schneider, D Mohn, N A Luechinger, F M Koehler, S Hofmann, J R Vetsch, B W Thimm, R Müller and W J Stark
Nanoscale, 2011, DOI: 10.1039/C0NR00615G, Advance Article
| A study evaluating the in vitro biomedical performance of a potential biomaterial that mimics bone tissue.
The material, a bilayer made of poly(lactide-co-glycolide), calcium phosphate and collagen, could have applications in treatment of bone defects with complex geometries as wound dressing material. |
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Hot Communication, just published
Controllable fabrication of soap-bubble-like structured polyacrylic acid nano-nets via electro-netting
Shangbin Yang, Xianfeng Wang, Bin Ding, Jianyong Yu, Jingfang Qian and Gang Sun
Nanoscale, 2011, DOI: 10.1039/C0NR00730G , Advanced Article
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Bin Ding and colleagues report a novel process for the controlled preparation of large-scale polyacrylic acid (PAA) nano-nets: “electro-netting”. Soap-bubble-like structured PAA nano-nets made up of interlinked ultrathin nanowires are controllably prepared in a one-step process. |
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More Advanced Articles
Read now the latest issue of Nanoscale:
Themed Issue on Crystallization and Formation Mechanisms of Nanostructures
Guest Edited by Fiona C. Meldrum and Helmut Cölfen
This themed Issue illustrates current synthetic approaches for the production of nanostructures, and shows recent progress on the understanding of the formation mechanisms of these structures. Enjoy!
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Growth of pentatwinned gold nanorods into truncated decahedra Formation of cobalt-Prussian Blue nanoparticles in a biopolymer matrix |
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Jun Jiang, Min-Rui Gao, Yun-Hao Qiu and Shu-Hong Yu Impact of the colloidal state on the oriented attachment growth mechanism |
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Nanoscale’s new Publishing Editor Philip Howes, talks about a recent article on conjugated polymer nanoparticles published in the journal…
This month, a Nanoscale Feature Article presents a very interesting account of recent investigations into a novel type of fluorescent nanoparticles.
Read the Feature Article now for free:
Amplified energy transfer in conjugated polymer nanoparticle tags and sensors
Zhiyuan Tian, Jiangbo Yu, Changfeng Wu, Craig Szymanski and Jason McNeill
Nanoscale, 2010, 2, 1999-2011
Conjugated polymers are a fascinating class of material which combine the electrical behaviour of metals with the ease of processing of plastics. These organic molecules exhibit semiconducting behaviour as they possess a band structure similar to traditional inorganic semiconductors, like silicon, which allows the formation of excitons. For this reason, conjugated polymers are being used for the production of optoelectronic devices, such as LEDs and photovoltaics.
However, the use of conjugated polymers is not confined to device applications. As the polymers exhibit extremely high fluorescence brightness under UV excitation, they have been used to make fluorescent nanoparticles for use in biological imaging. The physical properties of conjugated polymer nanoparticles compare very well with the best known alternatives, such as quantum dots or dye-doped silica, and as they are relatively benign they appear to be promising for uses in biological fluorescence imaging studies where nanoparticle toxicity may be a concern. Furthermore, tuning of the colour of these nanoparticles is easily achieved by changing the type of polymer used, and as there is a vast range of conjugated polymers commercially available, emission across the visible spectrum is easily obtainable.
In this Feature Article, the authors review recent investigations into conjugated polymer nanoparticles with particular reference to optical and energy transfer phenomena, and applications in fluorescence based imaging and sensing applications. The underlying science of how fluorescent conjugated polymers behave in nanoparticle form is both fascinating and complex, and this is dealt with extremely well in this paper. As the authors explain, the development of conjugated polymer nanoparticles is still in its infancy and some important advances need to be made, such as reliable encapsulation and bioconjugation. However, the paper lays out many positive arguments as to why this type of particle should have a bright future in the development of fluorescent nanoparticles for biological imaging studies.
Philip Howes
Publishing Editor, Nanoscale
The latest top ten most accessed Nanoscale articles
See the most-read papers of September 2010 here:
