Reviews & Analysis

Along with the rapid merge and development of biotechnology and nanotechnology, various DNA nanostructure scaffolds have been designed, characterized and exploited for a range of applications. Particularly, we have seen the evolution of surface-confined DNA probes with rational design from one-dimensional to two-dimensional and then to three-dimensional, which greatly improve our ability to control the density, orientation and passivation of the surface. In this review, we aim to summarize recent progress on the improvement of probe–target recognition properties by introducing DNA nanostructure scaffolds. A range of new strategies have proven to provide significantly enhanced spatial positioning range and accessibility of the probes on surface over previously reported linear structures. We will also describe applications of DNA nanostructure scaffold-based biosensors.

Lipid-nanostructure hybrids possess dimensions that are comparable to biological molecules as well as unique and useful physicochemical properties arising from both lipids and nanomaterials. Therefore, the hybrids allow mimicking of the assembled structure and function of subcellular membrane components and monitoring of the membrane-associated reactions in a highly sensitive and controllable manner. In this review, we present recent advances in the synthesis of various lipid-nanostructure hybrids and the use of these structures for applications in nanobiotechnology. We further describe the scientific and practical applications of lipid-nanostructure hybrids for detecting membrane-targeting molecules, interfacing nanostructures with live cells and creating membrane-mimicking platforms to investigate cell–cell communication and intracellular processes.

Poly(3-hexylthiophene) nanowires, microns in length and nanometers in diameter, are stably suspended in solution, and crystallize by adjusting solvent strength. Cocrystalization of P3HT with P3HT-covered CdSe nanorods gave hybrid nanostructures in which the p-type P3HT fibrils were flanked by the n-type CdSe nanorods. The close proximity and arrangement of the two materials provides direct, continuous pathways suitable for charge transport in photovoltaic devices.

In this review, nanoporous thin-film template was obtained from the self-assembly of block copolymer PS-PLLA, at which the PLLA block can be hydrolyzed to form the nanopatterns. Nanoporous PS thin films with well-oriented cylinder nanochannels can be used for pore-filling with various ingredients to create specific drug delivery systems and optoelectronic devices. Moreover, nanoporous ceramics with high-specific surface area and high porosity can be fabricated for optical applications using hydrolyzed gyroid-forming PS-PLLA for templated sol–gel reaction. In addition, the formation of inorganic nanoporous templates from self-assembled PS-PDMS after oxygen plasma treatment and its corresponding applications in nanolithography will be discussed.

Nanostructured materials always exhibit high strength, ultra-large elasticity and unusual plastic deformation behaviors. The atomic-scale understanding of the microstructure evolution process of nanomaterials when they are subjected to external stress is crucial for understanding these ‘unusual’ phenomena and is important for designing new materials and applications. In situ transmission electron microscopy (TEM) experiments provide the possibility for direct observation of the deformation mechanisms at the atomic scale. This review presents the recent developments of techniques and scientific progress for the atomic-scale in situ TEM deformation dynamics on nanomaterials. Current limitations and future aspects are also discussed.

In this article, we review recent progress in the rapidly developing area of biomolecular interaction detection with excellent selectivity and ultrahigh sensitivity, such as DNA-DNA hybridization, DNA-protein interaction, protein function, and cellular activity, using FET-based biosensors based on the carbon nanomaterials single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) and graphenes. We also summarize some current challenges the scientific community is facing, including device-to-device heterogeneity and the lack of system integration for uniform device array mass-production.

Nonvolatile memory devices based on hybrid inorganic/organic nanocomposites have emerged as excellent candidates for promising applications in next-generation electronic and optoelectronic devices because of their advantages of high-mechanical flexibility, simple fabrication and low cost. As shown in the figure, the resistive switching of a nanocomposite sandwiched between two electrodes enables the cross-point where A and B cross to work as a memory cell for data storage. To date, various nanomaterials and device structures have been developed to optimize the memory properties of hybrid nanocomposites.

Forming nanomaterials into hierarchic and organized structures is a rational way of preparing advanced functional materials. The term nanoarchitectonics can express this innovation. This review focuses on recent researches to develop functional materials by forming nanomaterials into organized structures, especially in well-ordered layered structural motifs. This layered nanoarchitectonics can be achieved by using the versatile technology of layer-by-layer assembly. Reassembly of bulk materials into novel layered structures through layered nanoarchitectonics has created many innovative functional materials in a wide variety of fields as can be seen in ferromagnetic nanosheets, sensors, flame-retardant coatings, transparent conductors, electrodes and transistors, walking devices, drug release surfaces, targeting drug carriers and cell culturing.

Recent developments in advanced semiconductor nanomaterials and methods for their assembly establish new, important capabilities in flexible and stretchable electronics and optoelectronics. This review describes the most successful materials, mechanics and manufacturing strategies, and illustrates their use in bio-integrated devices designed for basic measurements of cellular electrophysiology and multimodal sensing suitable for clinical applications. Opportunities span a variety of biomedical applications including skin-based, neural, and cardiovascular monitoring and therapy.

Life is a multiscale chiral system, which ingeneously combine small chiral biomolecules to biomacromolecules with special stereo-conformations and functions via chemical bonding and weak chemical interactions, for example, hydrogen bonding and hydrophobic interactions, which further assemble to build up macroscopic biological entities showing distinct assymetric characteristics, for example, right-handed conches and so on. This brings much inspiration to construct artificial systems being able to transform chiral signals to macroscopic properties of materials based on chirality-responsive polymers, which find broad applications in various domains of chemical engineering, industry, biology and medicine.