Volume 13 Issue 10, October 2018

Some scientific disciplines originate from a single event. This is not the case for nanotechnology, says Chris Toumey.

Meta-electrodes, lasing and optoacoustic poration achieve network-wide intracellular recording.

A quantum dot device reaches close to optimal thermoelectric efficiency by working with electrons that lever heat.

The top-down fabrication of voltage-controlled superconducting qubits brings upscaling into reach.

Quantitative near-infrared bioimaging gets a boost from time-domain multiplexing.

Intracellular gold nanoclusters act as photosensitizers, enabling non-photosynthetic bacteria to produce acetic acid from carbon dioxide in a more efficient and durable fashion.

This Perspective discusses experimental efforts and conceptual frameworks of chemical fuel-driven self-assembly.

This Review summarizes recent progress on enzymatic and microbial hybrid systems for solar-to-fuel conversion, as well as the challenges the field is facing.

A photosynthetic biohybrid system based on non-photosynthetic bacteria that incorporate gold nanoclusters achieves faster electron transfer and more durable solar CO₂ fixation.

Hybrid light–matter states at the surface of a 2D material can interact strongly and propagate over macroscopic distances.

Lateral TMD–graphene–topological insulator hetero-devices enable room-temperature optoelectronic transport of the valley-locked spin polarization degree of freedom.

Scalable gate tunable superconducting qubits can be realized using a proximitized InAs two-dimensional electron gas.

Direct thermal-to-electric energy conversion can be performed at electronic efficiencies comparable to efficiencies of traditional cyclical heat engines.

An ensemble multicolour FRET model is introduced and used to extend multicolour barcoding to extreme FRET regimes, enabling in silico design of 580 barcode responses using common dyes and cytometer optics, and permitting fully automated decoding.

DNA origami-based integrated gene transcription modules enable the rational design of transcription activity. Architectural modalities between gene and RNA polymerase allow the autonomous response to various signals with reprogrammable logic gates.

Using lifetime-resolved imaging techniques, engineered nanoparticles can be used to perform multiplexed imaging in the NIR-II region with limited interference from biological tissues, thus by-passing the challenges of conventional deep imaging.

Self-assembled, ferroelectric BiFeO₃ nanoislands confine centre-type quad-domains that can be switched reliably by means of an electric field, changing the domain-wall conductance by three orders of magnitude.

Strong coupling between a Fabry–Pérot cavity mode and plasmonic modes enhances the internal quantum efficiency of a water splitting device.

Thermal conductivity in a proteinaceous semi-crystalline material can be modulated by more than three times upon hydration and dehydration cycles.

A combination of planar porous electrodes, optoacoustic poration and laser scanning allows large-scale recording of intracellular action potentials of cardiomyocyte cultures on CMOS-MEAs.