Volume 7 Issue 7, July 2012

Gender is less of an issue in nanotechnology than in other areas of science and technology but, as Chris Toumey explains, public attitudes to nanotech do depend on gender.

Combining copper(II) phosphate and proteins leads to the formation of hybrid nanostructures that are shaped like flowers and have enhanced catalytic activity and stability.

Quantum dots that contain cadmium, selenium and zinc are not toxic to monkeys for periods of up to 90 days, but longer-term studies are needed to determine the ultimate fate of the heavy metals that accumulate in the organs.

Amyloid protein fibrils and graphene sheets can be combined to make a material that is biodegradable and has useful shape-memory and enzyme-sensing properties.

One-dimensional strings of metal nanocubes can be precisely self-assembled with the help of polymer chemistry.

Amyloid fibrils and graphene can be combined to make a material that is well suited to various biosensing applications.

Mixing copper sulphate with phosphate-buffered saline that contains enzymes results in hybrid nanoflowers that display increased enzymatic activity compared with free enzymes.

Metal nanocubes grafted with polymers can self-assemble into arrays of one-dimensional strings that have well-defined interparticle orientations and tunable electromagnetic properties.

The charge-transport properties of a molecular monolayer sandwiched between two flexible electrodes remain stable when the device is bent or twisted.

Small numbers of arsenic atoms are implanted into a silicon transistor, and the Anderson–Mott transition is observed by controlling the spacing between these dopants.

Using an approach that is analogous to Millikan's oil drop experiment, the size and charge of single nanoscale objects in solution can be directly measured by analysing their thermal motion in an array of electrostatic fluidic traps on a chip.

Six rhesus macaques injected with a cadmium-based quantum-dot formulation survived without any evidence of toxicity, but cadmium remained in certain organs after 90 days.

Iron oxide nanoparticles encapsulated inside a ferritin protein shell can be used to target and visualize tumours without the use of any targeting ligands or contrast agents.

Quantum dots with a zinc oxide core and a strained graphene shell are used as an emissive layer in a white-light-emitting diode.

An infrared bolometer made using bilayer graphene compares favourably to existing devices in terms of sensitivity, noise equivalent power and speed.