Volume 10 Issue 5, May 2011

Research on superhydrophobic materials has mostly focused on their extreme non-wettability. However, the implications of superhydrophobicity beyond wetting, in particular for transport phenomena, remain largely unexplored.

Local rotations in crystals change our view at the inner structure of crystals and may be the key for a whole range of hidden symmetries and novel physical effects in condensed-matter systems.

Combustion processing provides a simple route for the low-temperature deposition of high-performance metal-oxide layers and enables the fabrication of electronic devices on flexible polymer substrates.

By wrapping a ligand-functionalized lipid membrane around a silica core, nanoparticles with a fluid surface are created. These combine unprecedented specificity in binding to cancer cells with the combinatorial delivery of drug cocktails.

The experimental demonstration of antiferromagnetic tunnelling anisotropic magnetoresistance paves the way for spintronic devices based on antiferromagnets, rather than ferromagnets.

Spin-valve structures used in modern hard-drive read heads and magnetic random access memories comprise two ferromagnetic electrodes. It is now shown that antiferromagnets can be used as electrodes in spin valves. The results open a wide range of new possibilities for the choice of materials for spintronics devices.

Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy is a widely used spectroscopic technique, particularly for infrared wavelengths. However, for imaging applications the spatial resolution of FTIR spectrometers is restricted by the diffraction limit. The use of an FTIR spectrometer to pick up the low signal from scanning near-field optical microscopy employing thermal radiation now enables infrared imaging with nanoscale resolution.

Bottom gates in epitaxial graphene structures can now be fabricated through a technique based on nitrogen implantation. This is an important achievement to increase both the versatility of the material for fundamental studies and the potential for its use in devices.

Plasmonic resonances are often associated with metals, but can also be realized in semiconductors. The observation of plasmon resonances at near-infrared wavelengths in semiconductor quantum dots in particular, offers the possibility to actively control plasmonic properties through quantum-size effects within the dots.

The controlled formation of micrometre-size drops is of importance for many technological applications such as microfluidics. A wetting-based destabilization mechanism of forced microfilaments on either hydrophilic or hydrophobic stripes leading to the periodic emission of droplets can now be used to control independently the drop size and emission period.

Microporous organic polymers (MOPs) are technologically important for low-dielectric materials, gas separation and gas-storage applications. A class of amorphous MOPs prepared by cycloaddition modification is shown to exhibit outstanding CO₂ separation performance and super-permeable characteristics

The symmetries of crystals are an important factor in the understanding of their properties. The discovery of a new symmetry type, rotation-reversal symmetry, may lead to the discovery of new rotation-based phenomena, for example in multiferroic materials.

Solution-deposited metal oxides show great potential for large-area electronics, but they generally require high annealing temperatures, which are incompatible with flexible polymeric substrates. Combustion processing is now reported as a new low-temperature route for the deposition of diverse metal oxide films, and high-performance transistors are demonstrated using this method.

A nanocarrier—synthesized by the fusion of liposomes to spherical, nanoporous silica particles and subsequent modification of the lipid bilayer with targeting peptides and fusogenic peptides—shows the targeted delivery and controlled release of chemically diverse multicomponent cargos within the cytosol of certain cancer cells.

Nanofibrous hollow microspheres, formed by the self-assembly of star-shaped biodegradable polymers, are shown to be effective injectable cell carriers for cartilage repair. The microspheres accommodate cells and enhance cartilage regeneration in vivo with respect to various control groups, in particular, indicating smooth integration between the regenerated and host tissue.