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Volume 6 Issue 10, October 2011

When a butyl methyl sulphide (BuSMe) molecule is absorbed on a metal surface it can rotate around the bond between the sulphur atom in the molecule and one of the metal atoms in the surface. Now Charles Sykes and co-workers have shown that electrons from a scanning tunnelling microscope (STM) can be used to drive directional motion of BuSMe molecules adsorbed on a copper surface. The direction and rate of the rotation are related to the chiralities of the molecule and the microscope tip. The BuSMe molecules shown here measure 2.5 nm across and appear hexagonal because of the symmetry of the underlying copper surface. The colours represent height (blue being the highest). This image was formed by duplicating an STM image of two BuSMe molecules.

Letter p625; News & Views p610

IMAGE: APRIL JEWELL AND HEATHER TIERNEY

COVER DESIGN: ALEX WING

Editorial

  • Basic research in nanoscience and technology is flourishing, but obstacles to real-world applications remain.

    Editorial

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Thesis

  • What progress has been made in efforts to engage the public in decisions about nanotechnology over the past five years? Chris Toumey asks various experts in the field.

    • Chris Toumey
    Thesis
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Feature

  • The first issue of Nature Nanotechnology, published five years ago, contained seven research papers. We catch up with the authors of those papers and ask how nanotechnology has changed since then.

    • Peter Rodgers
    Feature
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Research Highlights

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News & Views

  • Electrons from the tip of a scanning tunnelling microscope can be used to drive and monitor the directional rotation of a single molecule on a metal surface.

    • Steven De Feyter
    News & Views
  • Plasmons in graphene nanoribbons have widely tunable frequencies and interact strongly with light.

    • Farhan Rana
    News & Views
  • Graphene membranes allow measurements of surface chemistry under realistic conditions.

    • Dmitry Zemlyanov
    News & Views
  • Risk assessments of products containing nanomaterials require both the materials in the products and the materials emitted during their use to be analysed so that realistic exposures can be determined.

    • Maxine J. McCall
    News & Views
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Review Article

  • Recent advances suggest that nanopore-based sensors may be able to sequence the human genome for under $1,000. This article reviews the use of nanopore technology in DNA sequencing, genetics and medical diagnostics.

    • Bala Murali Venkatesan
    • Rashid Bashir
    Review Article
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Letter

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Article

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Focus

  • Since it was launched in October 2006, Nature Nanotechnologyhas published papers on a wide range of topics within nanoscience and technology. This web focus brings together all the papers we have published in four particularly active areas - DNA nanotechnology, graphene, nanopores and nanotoxicology - along with articles on the public perceptions of nanotechnology.

    Focus
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