Advance online publication


The latest research papers, published online ahead of print. These online versions are definitive and may be cited using the digital object identifier (DOI).

About advance online publication
Top

Letters

Gel-expanded to gel-condensed transition in neurofilament networks revealed by direct force measurements

Roy Beck, Joanna Deek, Jayna B. Jones & Cyrus R. Safinya

Published online: 15 November 2009 | doi:10.1038/nmat2566

Liquid-crystal gel networks of neurofilament assemblies play a key part in the mechanical stability of neuronal processes, and disruptions in the networks are a hallmark of motor-neuron diseases. Under pressure, these networks are shown to undergo an abrupt transition from expanded to condensed states, with distinct mechanical properties, helping to explain possible disruption mechanisms.


Quasi-ballistic thermal transport from nanoscale interfaces observed using ultrafast coherent soft X-ray beams

Mark E. Siemens, Qing Li, Ronggui Yang, Keith A. Nelson, Erik H. Anderson, Margaret M. Murnane & Henry C. Kapteyn

Published online: 08 November 2009 | doi:10.1038/nmat2568

According to Fourier theory, thermal transport is a diffusive process. However, this cannot be the case at length scales smaller than the mean free path of the energy carriers. The first experimental study of thermal transport at the nanoscale is now reported in the case of a point-like heat source, providing a quantitative description of the transition between the ballistic and diffusive regimes.


Gold nanocages covered by smart polymers for controlled release with near-infrared light

Mustafa S. Yavuz, Yiyun Cheng, Jingyi Chen, Claire M. Cobley, Qiang Zhang, Matthew Rycenga, Jingwei Xie, Chulhong Kim, Kwang H. Song, Andrea G. Schwartz, Lihong V. Wang & Younan Xia

Published online: 01 November 2009 | doi:10.1038/nmat2564

Heat-responsive polymers grafted onto gold nanocages serve as a nanoscale delivery system for biologically important compounds. Laser irradiation of the nanocages heats the polymers by means of the photothermal effect; the polymers then change conformation and compounds are released. The polymers return to their original configuration when the laser is switched off, stopping further release.


Experimental demonstration of an acoustic magnifying hyperlens

Jensen Li, Lee Fok, Xiaobo Yin, Guy Bartal & Xiang Zhang

Published online: 25 October 2009 | doi:10.1038/nmat2561

Like their optical counterparts, acoustic metamaterials are capable of manipulating sound waves in unusual ways. An acoustic hyperlens is now demonstrated that is capable of magnifying subwavelength acoustic waves, and could therefore find applications in medical imaging or underwater sonar.


Top

Articles

Size and shape effects on the order–disorder phase transition in CoPt nanoparticles

D. Alloyeau, C. Ricolleau, C. Mottet, T. Oikawa, C. Langlois, Y. Le Bouar, N. Braidy & A. Loiseau

Published online: 15 November 2009 | doi:10.1038/nmat2574

The structure of magnetic nanoparticles has a strong influence on the properties of these materials at present being considered for magnetic-storage applications. It is now shown that size and shape of magnetic nanoparticles, such as CoPt, affect the transition from an ordered to a disordered phase, highlighting the need to take morphology into account to understand the structural properties.


Giant Zeeman splitting in nucleation-controlled doped CdSe:Mn2+ quantum nanoribbons

Jung Ho Yu, Xinyu Liu, Kyoung Eun Kweon, Jin Joo, Jiwon Park, Kyung-Tae Ko, Dong Won Lee, Shaoping Shen, Kritsanu Tivakornsasithorn, Jae Sung Son, Jae-Hoon Park, Young-Woon Kim, Gyeong S. Hwang, Margaret Dobrowolska, Jacek K. Furdyna & Taeghwan Hyeon

Published online: 15 November 2009 | doi:10.1038/nmat2572

Synthesizing magnetic nanostructures, which could potentially be used in spintronic applications, is quite challenging owing to the difficulty in incorporating magnetic impurities in a non-magnetic matrix. It is now shown that up to 10% Mn can be incorporated in CdSe nanoribbons by nucleation-controlled doping, giving rise to very strong magnetic effects.


Self-assembling chimeric polypeptide–doxorubicin conjugate nanoparticles that abolish tumours after a single injection

J. Andrew MacKay, Mingnan Chen, Jonathan R. McDaniel, Wenge Liu, Andrew J. Simnick & Ashutosh Chilkoti

Published online: 08 November 2009 | doi:10.1038/nmat2569

When artificial polypeptides are conjugated to a variety of hydrophobic molecules such as chemotherapeutics, the resulting molecules spontaneously self-assemble into nanoparticles. Delivering the chemotherapeutics to a murine cancer model, the nanoparticles have a fourfold higher maximum tolerated dose than the free drug, and induce nearly complete tumour regression after a single dose.


Metastable and unstable cellular solidification of colloidal suspensions

Sylvain Deville, Eric Maire, Guillaume Bernard-Granger, Audrey Lasalle, Agnès Bogner, Catherine Gauthier, Jérôme Leloup & Christian Guizard

Published online: 08 November 2009 | doi:10.1038/nmat2571

Direct in situ high-resolution X-ray radiography and tomography observations now reveal instability and metastability domains in cellular solidification of colloidal suspensions and the transition to the stable phase. These results provide important insight into the study of morphological instabilities and could prove significant in the design of various types of nanostructure.


Large modulation of carrier transport by grain-boundary molecular packing and microstructure in organic thin films

Jonathan Rivnay, Leslie H. Jimison, John E. Northrup, Michael F. Toney, Rodrigo Noriega, Shaofeng Lu, Tobin J. Marks, Antonio Facchetti & Alberto Salleo

Published online: 08 November 2009 | doi:10.1038/nmat2570

Grain boundaries are already known to have a large effect on the charge-carrier mobility of molecular semiconductors. Several experimental and computational techniques now show that the orientation of grain boundaries in a perylene diimide semiconductor modulates carrier mobility by two orders of magnitude. The results provide important guidelines for producing device-optimized molecular semiconductors.


Nanostructured arrays of semiconducting octahedral molecular sieves by pulsed-laser deposition

Anais E. Espinal, Lichun Zhang, Chun-Hu Chen, Aimee Morey, Yuefeng Nie, Laura Espinal, Barrett O. Wells, Raymond Joesten, Mark Aindow & Steven L. Suib

Published online: 01 November 2009 | doi:10.1038/nmat2567

Molecular sieves made out of cryptomelane-type manganese oxide (OMS-2) have been widely studied, but synthesizing them with a hierarchical nanostructure and precise crystal orientation is very challenging. It is now demonstrated that pulsed-laser deposition of OMS-2 on SrTiO3 leads to the spontaneous formation of three-dimensional arrays of parallel and inclined fibres. The results open the way for lattice-engineered synthesis of multilayer materials.


Nanofibrous biologic laminates replicate the form and function of the annulus fibrosus

Nandan L. Nerurkar, Brendon M. Baker, Sounok Sen, Emily E. Wible, Dawn M. Elliott & Robert L. Mauck

Published online: 25 October 2009 | doi:10.1038/nmat2558

Designing load-bearing tissues that match the mechanical performance of native ones adds extra challenges to tissue engineering. Electrospinning of biodegradable polymer fibres into oriented sheets enables the production of laminate scaffolds; when seeded with mesenchymal stem cells and cultured for 10 weeks, these scaffolds replicate the mechanical properties of native annulus fibrosus.


Reduction of the bulk modulus at high pressure in CrN

Francisco Rivadulla, Manuel Bañobre-López, Camilo X. Quintela, Alberto Piñeiro, Victor Pardo, Daniel Baldomir, Manuel Arturo López-Quintela, José Rivas, Carlos A. Ramos, Horacio Salva, Jian-Shi Zhou & John B. Goodenough

Published online: 25 October 2009 | doi:10.1038/nmat2549

Chromium nitride is very incompressible, making it ideal for industrial coatings. However, it is now shown that the material softens at high pressure and low temperature in connection with a phase transition from cubic to orthorhombic structure. The results could be fundamental in designing ways to improve the mechanical properties of superhard CrN.


Porous organic cages

Tomokazu Tozawa, James T. A. Jones, Shashikala I. Swamy, Shan Jiang, Dave J. Adams, Stephen Shakespeare, Rob Clowes, Darren Bradshaw, Tom Hasell, Samantha Y. Chong, Chiu Tang, Stephen Thompson, Julia Parker, Abbie Trewin, John Bacsa, Alexandra M. Z. Slawin, Alexander Steiner & Andrew I. Cooper

Published online: 25 October 2009 | doi:10.1038/nmat2545

Porous materials are technologically important for a wide range of applications, such as catalysis and separation. Covalently bonded organic cages can now be assembled into crystalline microporous materials, and their porosity is found to be intrinsic to their molecular cage structure.


Material properties of the cell dictate stress-induced spreading and differentiation in embryonic stem cells

Farhan Chowdhury, Sungsoo Na, Dong Li, Yeh-Chuin Poh, Tetsuya S. Tanaka, Fei Wang & Ning Wang

Published online: 18 October 2009 | doi:10.1038/nmat2563

Soft embryonic stem cells respond to small localized forces by increasing cell protrusion and spreading; in contrast, cells that are differentiated from them—which are ten times stiffer—do not spread. The deformation of the cell cytoskeleton is thus shown to be an important determinant of cellular response to force.


Small-molecule-directed nanoparticle assembly towards stimuli-responsive nanocomposites

Yue Zhao, Kari Thorkelsson, Alexander J. Mastroianni, Thomas Schilling, Joseph M. Luther, Benjamin J. Rancatore, Kazuyuki Matsunaga, Hiroshi Jinnai, Yue Wu, Daniel Poulsen, Jean M. J. Fréchet, A. Paul Alivisatos & Ting Xu

Published online: 18 October 2009 | doi:10.1038/nmat2565

By including small molecules with block copolymers in polymer nanocomposites, various types of nanoparticle can be positioned within the composite with unprecedented precision over several length scales. Moreover, the spatial distribution of nanoparticles within the combined material can be varied by exposure to heat or light, creating a new route to stimuli-responsive materials.


Morphology-dependent zeolite intergrowth structures leading to distinct internal and outer-surface molecular diffusion barriers

Lukasz Karwacki, Marianne H. F. Kox, D. A. Matthijs de Winter, Martyn R. Drury, Johannes D. Meeldijk, Eli Stavitski, Wolfgang Schmidt, Machteld Mertens, Pablo Cubillas, Neena John, Ally Chan, Norma Kahn, Simon R. Bare, Michael Anderson, Jan Kornatowski & Bert M. Weckhuysen

Published online: 20 September 2009 | doi:10.1038/nmat2530

Characterizing the internal architecture of zeolites is crucial for understanding their structure–function relationships, and for acid–base heterogeneous catalysis. Using a unique combination of diffraction and microscopy techniques provides a unified picture of the morphology of intergrowth structures and confirmation of surface barriers for molecular diffusion.


Until print versions of AOP papers are published, they should be cited in the style "Author(s) Nature Materials advance online publication, day month year (doi:10.1038/nmatXXXXX)". Once the print version (identical to the AOP) is published, it should be cited as follows: "Author(s) Nature Materials volume, page (year); advance online publication, (doi:10.1038/nmatXXXXX)".

Top

Extra navigation

Subscribe to Nature Materials

Subscribe

Open Innovation Challenges

  • Biocide Formulation

    • Deadline: Nov 09 2009
    • Reward: $20,000 USD

    A formulation for enhanced binding of biocides to surfaces exposed to an aqueous environment is desi...

naturejobs

ADVERTISEMENT