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Materials that change their properties in response to external stimuli could have applications in electronics, sensing and catalysis. In the past, such switchable nanomaterials have relied on changes of shape to modify their properties, but now Bartosz Grzybowski and co-workers have shown that the electrical conductance of a film made of gold nanoparticles coated with charged ligands can be controlled by applying an electric field. This applied field sets up long-range gradients of both electrons (in the nanoparticle cores) and negative counterions (around the nanoparticles). Moreover, these gradients and the internal electric fields they create can be reconfigured to create different electronic elements. In this abstract representation, the nanoparticles are cubes, the currents between them are yellow and the conducting paths that have been switched off are copper coloured.
Nanotechnology has the potential to lead to healthier, safer and better tasting foods, and improved food packaging, but the hesitation of the food industry and public fears in some countries about tampering with nature may be holding back the introduction of nanofoods.
The bulk conductivity of a topological insulator composed of Bi, Sb and Te can be reduced by orders of magnitude by tuning the ratio of Bi to Sb, allowing surface states to dominate conduction.
The photoluminescence quantum yield of photogenerated carriers in silicon nanocrystals increases in a step-like fashion as photon energy is increased, consistent with high-efficiency carrier multiplication.
Simulation studies show that nanotubes with carbon shells at their tips are taken up by cells through the tip first, at a small angle of entry, before being rotated to a near-vertical alignment.
Incorporating gold nanowires into scaffolds used to create heart patches can improve electrical communication between cells and enhance the growth of tissues.
A nanoscale optomechanical resonator in a double-well potential has been excited into the high-amplitude regime, and then optically cooled to a specific at-rest configuration, which allows it to be operated as a non-volatile memory element.
Thin films of strongly coupled PbSe quantum dots exhibit light-induced charge generation with a yield of one electron and one hole per photon over a wide temperature range.
Dynamic internal gradients of ions and electrons can be used to direct electric currents through films of charged metal nanoparticles, and allows current rectifiers, switches and diodes to be created.
A new device made up of a nanochannel and two microchannels can deliver well-defined amounts of molecules directly into cells without affecting cell viability.