Volume 5 Issue 2, February 2010

An online survey shows that most researchers do not use suitable personal and laboratory protection equipment when handling nanomaterials that could become airborne.

Placing colloidal spheres in the immediate proximity of fluorescent molecules makes it possible to achieve single-molecule imaging at high temperatures with a low-cost system.

The presence of just one dopant atom can dramatically alter the performance of a short-channel transistor, depending on where it is located.

An atomic force microscope can reveal a range of subsurface information about a sample through mechanical excitation of both the sample and the tip.

Could carbon nanotubes of a single chirality be grown from the bottom up using a common organic reaction?

An atomic force microscope can probe both the surface and subsurface regions of a sample by exploiting nanomechanical coupling between the probe and the sample.

Coordination-polymer nanostructures — grown on an insulating surface by sublimation of polymer crystals — show high electrical conductivities.

Nanoparticles can be assembled into superlattices and dimer clusters using a reconfigurable DNA device that also allows interparticle distances to be modified, post-assembly, in response to molecular stimuli.

Gold nanoparticles can be assembled into ordered arrays through the site-selective deposition of mesoscopic DNA origami onto lithographically patterned substrates and the precise binding of gold nanocrystals to each DNA structure.

The use of colloidal titanium dioxide particles as lenses enables single-molecule imaging to be performed at temperatures as high as 70 °C.

A single dopant atom can dominate the subthreshold behaviour of a field-effect transistor, and this effect is enhanced if the atom is located near a dielectric.

A biosensor containing a microfluidic purification chip that supplies a downstream nanoribbon-detector can detect disease biomarkers in samples of whole blood.

Steps in the electrostatic potential at domain walls in a ferroelectric material give rise to a new kind of photovoltaic effect that produces voltages significantly higher than the bandgap of the material.

Nanoscale filaments with a Magnéli structure are shown to be responsible for resistance switching in thin films of TiO₂, and the properties of the filaments are directly observed during the switching process.

The adhesion of single DNA molecules on modified gold surfaces can be adjusted by surface potential, and the desorption forces of these interactions are measured by single-molecule force spectroscopy.

Asymmetric salt concentrations can be used to enhance the capture rate of DNA in solid-state nanopores and detect picomolar solutions of unlabelled DNA.