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News & Views |
Lightly counting membrane proteins in native nanodiscs
To determine the physiologically relevant oligomeric form of membrane proteins is extremely challenging. Now an elegant method of counting the oligomers in membrane proteins in near-native states is presented, using photobleaching and nanodiscs formed directly from cellular membranes.
- Koushambi Mitra
- & Yamuna Krishnan
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Article |
Oligomeric organization of membrane proteins from native membranes at nanoscale spatial and single-molecule resolution
Native-nanoBleach, a single-molecule imaging technique with a spatial resolution of ~10 nm, quantifies the oligomeric distribution of membrane proteins directly from native membranes at endogenous expression levels with their proximal native membrane environment using amphipathic copolymer nanodiscs.
- Gerard Walker
- , Caroline Brown
- & Moitrayee Bhattacharyya
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Article |
Single-molecule force stability of the SARS-CoV-2–ACE2 interface in variants-of-concern
Mechanistic origins of force stability and bond kinetics of interaction of the receptor-binding domain from the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein with angiotensin-converting enzyme 2, a key selection factor for mutations, are revealed at the single-molecule resolution using magnetic tweezers and molecular dynamics simulations.
- Magnus S. Bauer
- , Sophia Gruber
- & Jan Lipfert
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Article |
Efficient multicarbon formation in acidic CO2 reduction via tandem electrocatalysis
The development of a tandem catalyst, consisting of two distinct nanoscale-engineered layers, enables efficient multicarbon production with high CO2 utilization in an acidic CO2 electroreduction environment.
- Yuanjun Chen
- , Xiao-Yan Li
- & Edward H. Sargent
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Article |
Spontaneous broken-symmetry insulator and metals in tetralayer rhombohedral graphene
Stacking graphene in the rhombohedral order to the tetralayer yields stronger Coulomb interactions, which results in insulating and metallic states with spontaneous symmetry breaking in spin, valley and layer degrees of freedom.
- Kai Liu
- , Jian Zheng
- & Guorui Chen
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Research Briefing |
Dynamicity of atoms in a liquid metal catalyst enables selective propylene synthesis
Catalytic metals dissolved in liquid gallium remain atomically dispersed and dynamically active. The configurational dynamics of the metal atoms enables them to adopt a specific configurational alignment with the reactants to facilitate selective propylene synthesis from two different hydrocarbon feedstocks.
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Article |
Combinatorial development of nebulized mRNA delivery formulations for the lungs
Nebulized mRNA delivery has broad therapeutic potential but has proven challenging. Here, the authors report on a modified lipid nanoparticle with improved conditions to allow nebulization and demonstrate its application for delivering mRNA to the lungs.
- Allen Y. Jiang
- , Jacob Witten
- & Daniel G. Anderson
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Article |
Dynamic configurations of metallic atoms in the liquid state for selective propylene synthesis
Catalytic metals dissolved in a liquid gallium solvent remain atomically dispersed. Alignments among the liquid atoms and reactants facilitate selective propylene synthesis from various hydrocarbon feedstocks.
- Junma Tang
- , Andrew J. Christofferson
- & Kourosh Kalantar-Zadeh
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Article |
Microplastic fragmentation by rotifers in aquatic ecosystems contributes to global nanoplastic pollution
Here the authors show that the trophi or jaws of the chitinous masticatory apparatus of marine and freshwater zooplankton rotifers can grind microplastics, independent of polymer composition, and generate particulate nanoplastics, which may accelerate the nanoplastic flux in global surface waters.
- Jian Zhao
- , Ruyi Lan
- & Baoshan Xing
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Research Briefing |
Nanoturbine driven by flow across a nanopore
A DNA origami nanoturbine is designed as a rotary motor that draws power from an ion gradient or electrical potential across a solid-state nanopore. Single-molecule experiments demonstrate that the turbine can drive a DNA bundle into sustained unidirectional rotation, with the preferred rotation direction set by the chirality of the turbine.
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Research Briefing |
High optical nonlinear efficiency achieved by compensating for nanoscale inhomogeneity
Nanoscale inhomogeneity is a major barrier to achieving high nonlinear efficiency in nanophotonic lithium-niobate waveguides. Using adapted poling in the waveguide — to circumvent the inhomogeneity and restore ideal phase matching — is shown to break through this efficiency limit.
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Article |
A modular approach to enhancing cell membrane-coated nanoparticle functionality using genetic engineering
Synthetic nanoparticles coated with cell membranes show immune evasion and circulate longer. Here, a genetically engineered cell membrane expressing a SpyCatcher anchor is used as a modular nanotherapeutic drug delivery platform for high-affinity targeting and suppression of ovarian cancer.
- Nishta Krishnan
- , Yao Jiang
- & Liangfang Zhang
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News & Views |
Biohybrid nanoparticles for treating arthritis
A biohybrid nanoparticle formulation effectively treats rheumatoid arthritis by concurrently providing symptom relief and restoring proper immune function.
- Ronnie H. Fang
- & Liangfang Zhang
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Article |
Ceria-vesicle nanohybrid therapeutic for modulation of innate and adaptive immunity in a collagen-induced arthritis model
Rheumatoid arthritis involves both inflammation and immune dysfunction, yet most therapies only target one aspect. Here, the authors report on ceria nanoparticle vesicle hybrids producing anti-inflammatory action and immunomodulation to relieve symptoms and restore normal function.
- Sagang Koo
- , Hee Su Sohn
- & Taeghwan Hyeon
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Article
| Open Access
A DNA turbine powered by a transmembrane potential across a nanopore
A nanoscale DNA origami turbine is shown to perform mechanical rotation by directly harvesting transmembrane potential energy from an ion-concentration gradient across a solid-state nanopore. The direction of rotation is set by the designed chiral twist in the turbine’s blades.
- Xin Shi
- , Anna-Katharina Pumm
- & Cees Dekker
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Article |
Adapted poling to break the nonlinear efficiency limit in nanophotonic lithium niobate waveguides
A major limiting factor for nonlinear efficiencies in lithium niobate waveguides, nanoscale thickness inhomogeneity, has been tackled using a fabrication approach called adapted poling.
- Pao-Kang Chen
- , Ian Briggs
- & Linran Fan
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Article
| Open Access
A rhythmically pulsing leaf-spring DNA-origami nanoengine that drives a passive follower
An autonomous DNA-origami nanomachine powered by the chemical energy of DNA-templated RNA-transcription-consuming nucleoside triphosphates as fuel performs rhythmic pulsations is demonstrated. In combination with a passive follower, the nanomachine acts as a mechanical driver with molecular precision.
- Mathias Centola
- , Erik Poppleton
- & Michael Famulok
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Article |
Honeybee comb-inspired stiffness gradient-amplified catapult for solid particle repellency
Nanoindentation of the microscale honeybee comb reveals a stiffness gradient that spans two orders of magnitude, which amplifies the catapult effect and facilitates solid particle repellency. By leveraging this, the study presents the fabrication of scaled-up, bioinspired stiffness-gradient elastomeric catapult-like soft actuators.
- Wei Zhang
- , Wei Jiang
- & Zuankai Wang
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News & Views |
Breaking the bottleneck of synthetic cells
In a major advancement for synthetic biology, dynamin A has been identified as a minimal component enabling cell division in synthetic cells, moving us one step nearer to realizing the ambition of creating synthetic life forms.
- Oskar Staufer
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Research Briefing |
Sensitive photoresists for high-speed two-photon lithography
Two-photon lithography has advantages for precise additive manufacturing at the nanoscale, but its printing speed is currently too slow for large-scale practical applications. A sensitive photoresist based on zirconium oxide hybrid nanoparticles is shown to increase the linear printing speed of two-photon lithography up to the order of metres per second.
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Article
| Open Access
Multivalent insulin receptor activation using insulin–DNA origami nanostructures
DNA-origami-based insulin assembly into well-defined nanoclusters reveals that insulin valency and spatial organization modulate insulin receptor activation and downstream responses independent of ligand concentration.
- Joel Spratt
- , José M. Dias
- & Ana I. Teixeira
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News & Views |
Bulk semiconductor nanocrystals transform solution-processed gain media
The remarkable optical gain performance of bulk-size CdS colloidal nanocrystals shows promise for printable laser diodes.
- Mikhail Zamkov
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Article |
Optical gain and lasing from bulk cadmium sulfide nanocrystals through bandgap renormalization
Solution-processable CdS ‘bulk’ nanocrystals show efficient on-chip lasing under quasi-continuous-wave conditions with excellent beam quality and pump thresholds.
- Ivo Tanghe
- , Margarita Samoli
- & Pieter Geiregat
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Article |
High-energy all-solid-state lithium batteries enabled by Co-free LiNiO2 cathodes with robust outside-in structures
In-depth mechanistic insights inform the fabrication of an all-solid-state, Co-free lithium battery with good performance and cyclability.
- Longlong Wang
- , Ayan Mukherjee
- & Malachi Noked
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Article |
An integrated microwave-to-optics interface for scalable quantum computing
An integrated transducer based on a planar superconducting resonator coupled to a silicon photonic cavity through a mechanical oscillator made from lithium niobate achieves a transduction efficiency of 0.9%.
- Matthew J. Weaver
- , Pim Duivestein
- & Robert Stockill
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Article |
Inhibition of acute complement responses towards bolus-injected nanoparticles using targeted short-circulating regulatory proteins
Activation of the complement system by nanoparticles limits nanomedicine. The co-administration of fused complement inhibitors could largely block complement opsonization and unwanted granulocyte/monocyte uptake, as well as reducing side-effects of bolus-injected nanoparticles.
- Yue Li
- , Sarah Jacques
- & Dmitri Simberg
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Article |
Correlated insulator and Chern insulators in pentalayer rhombohedral-stacked graphene
Pentalayer graphene in the rhombohedral stacking order exhibits rich phases including a correlated insulator, isospin-polarized metals and Chern insulators. These findings demonstrate electron-correlated and topological states in crystalline 2D materials without the need for a moiré superlattice.
- Tonghang Han
- , Zhengguang Lu
- & Long Ju
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Comment |
Navigating advanced technology transitions: using lessons from nanotechnology
As researchers, developers, policymakers and others grapple with navigating socially beneficial advanced technology transitions — especially those associated with artificial intelligence, DNA-based technologies, and quantum technologies — there are valuable lessons to be drawn from nanotechnology. These lessons underscore an urgent need to foster collaboration, engagement and partnerships across disciplines and sectors, together with bringing together people, communities, and organizations with diverse expertise, as they work together to realize the long-term benefits of transformative technologies.
- Andrew D. Maynard
- & Sean M. Dudley
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Article |
Ultrahigh-printing-speed photoresists for additive manufacturing
A novel ZrO2-based photoresist enables an additive manufacturing printing speed of 7.77 m s–1, with 38 nm resolution.
- Tianqi Liu
- , Peipei Tao
- & Xiangming He
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Article |
A wearable aptamer nanobiosensor for non-invasive female hormone monitoring
A reagentless, wireless, wearable aptamer nanobiosensor interfaced with a gold nanoparticle-MXene-based electrode enables the selective, automatic and non-invasive analysis of the female hormone oestradiol in sweat during menstrual cycles with subpicomolar sensitivity.
- Cui Ye
- , Minqiang Wang
- & Wei Gao
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Article
| Open Access
Wireless electrical–molecular quantum signalling for cancer cell apoptosis
Quantum biological electron transfer has potential in diagnostic and therapeutic settings. Here the authors report the triggered apoptosis of cancer cells using electricical input to wirelessly induce redox interactions at bio-nanoantennae in proximity to cancer cells.
- Akhil Jain
- , Jonathan Gosling
- & Frankie J. Rawson
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Article |
Breaking through the basement membrane barrier to improve nanotherapeutic delivery to tumours
Nanoparticle penetration into tumours is an obstacle to cancer therapeutics. Here the authors show that the tumour vascular basement membrane constitutes a barrier that reduces nanoparticle delivery and demonstrate an immune-driven strategy to overcome the barrier, increasing nanoparticle movement into tumours.
- Qin Wang
- , Qirui Liang
- & Yucai Wang
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Research Briefing |
A tunable two-dimensional crossbar array comprising 16 quantum dots
Drawing inspiration from classical semiconductor technology, a strategy to address many quantum dots through a small number of control lines is presented. The two-dimensional array consisting of 16 germanium quantum dots can be tuned in the few-hole regime with odd charge fillings and individually addressable tunnel couplings.
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Research Briefing |
Using single vacancies to build quantum antidots with atomic precision
Self-assembled single vacancies in a 2D transition metal dichalcogenide are used to fabricate atomically precise quantum antidots. The resulting antidots have tunable quantum hole states, which are robust to oxygen substitutional doping, and could have applications in quantum information and photocatalysis technologies.
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Article |
Oxyhaemoglobin saturation NIR-IIb imaging for assessing cancer metabolism and predicting the response to immunotherapy
Non-invasive monitoring of oxygen levels has implications in a wide range of applications. Here, the authors report that biological imaging beyond 1,500 nm enables in vivo quantitative assessment of oxyhaemoglobin saturation at vascular resolution with high sensitivity.
- Zhiguo Fang
- , Chenlei Wang
- & Yeteng Zhong
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Article |
Low Ohmic contact resistance and high on/off ratio in transition metal dichalcogenides field-effect transistors via residue-free transfer
A transfer approach for monolayer MoS2 using polypropylene carbonate shows a negligible residue coverage of ~0.08% and an ultralow Ohmic contact resistance of ~78 Ω µm, with an excellent on/off ratio of ~1011 at 15 K.
- Ashok Mondal
- , Chandan Biswas
- & Young Hee Lee
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Article
| Open Access
Microwave synthesis of molybdenene from MoS2
A free-standing two-dimensional sheet composed solely of Mo atoms shows metallic character, with an electrical conductivity of ~940 S m−1.
- Tumesh Kumar Sahu
- , Nishant Kumar
- & Prashant Kumar
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Review Article |
Light management for perovskite light-emitting diodes
This Review analyses the mechanisms of light extraction from perovskite light-emitting diodes and suggests new approaches towards ultrahigh electroluminescence efficiencies.
- Baodan Zhao
- , Maria Vasilopoulou
- & Dawei Di
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Article |
Atomically precise vacancy-assembled quantum antidots
We developed a technique to fabricate atomically precise quantum antidots with unprecedented robustness and tunable quantum hole states through self-assembled single vacancies in a two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenide.
- Hanyan Fang
- , Harshitra Mahalingam
- & Jiong Lu
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Article
| Open Access
Shared control of a 16 semiconductor quantum dot crossbar array
An efficient control strategy is designed for quantum dot arrays, drawing inspiration from classical semiconductor technology. A two-dimensional array of 16 semiconductor quantum dots is operated using only a few shared control lines.
- Francesco Borsoi
- , Nico W. Hendrickx
- & Menno Veldhorst
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Article |
Site-directed placement of three-dimensional DNA origami
Lithographically assisted, precise arraying of three-dimensional DNA origami nanostructures allows the fabrication of molecularly addressable nanotextured surfaces from the micro- to millimetre scales.
- Irina V. Martynenko
- , Elisabeth Erber
- & Tim Liedl
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News & Views |
Unfolding the path to nanopore protein sequencing
A modified nanopore enables enzyme-free threading of single polypeptides to detect post-translational modifications
- Adam Dorey
- & Stefan Howorka
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Article |
Infrared nano-imaging of Dirac magnetoexcitons in graphene
Dirac magnetoexcitons with non-trivial nanoscale electrodynamics are formed from the excitation of Landau levels in charge-neutral graphene. Here, the Dirac magnetoexciton dispersion is directly imaged up to 7 T via a magneto cryogenic near-field microscope.
- Michael Dapolito
- , Makoto Tsuneto
- & Mengkun Liu
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Article |
Self-regulated underwater phototaxis of a photoresponsive hydrogel-based phototactic vehicle
An untethered phototactic soft machine composed of poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) hydrogel blended with graphene oxide and gold nanoparticles demonstrates underwater full-space artificial phototaxis and manoeuvres around obstacles in natural sunlight.
- Guodong Hou
- , Xu Zhang
- & Xiaoshi Qian
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News & Views |
Probing the depths of battery heterogeneity
Three-dimensional optical imaging during battery operation reveals lithium heterogeneity at multiple length scales, challenging the look-at-one-particle approach.
- Stephen Dongmin Kang
- & William C. Chueh
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Article |
Three-dimensional operando optical imaging of particle and electrolyte heterogeneities inside Li-ion batteries
Confocal optical microscopy is used to visualize—at high speed—solid (particle volume changes and phase-front velocities) and liquid electrolyte (concentration polarization gradients) dynamics inside operating batteries.
- Raj Pandya
- , Lorenzo Valzania
- & Alexis Grimaud
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Article
| Open Access
Single-molecule analysis of DNA base-stacking energetics using patterned DNA nanostructures
DNA-based point accumulation in nanoscale topography (DNA-PAINT) super-resolution imaging reveals the kinetics of the free energy of base-stacking interactions of all 16 dinucleotide combinations at the single-molecule level in patterned DNA-origami nanostructures.
- Abhinav Banerjee
- , Micky Anand
- & Mahipal Ganji
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Article |
Giant spin Hall effect in AB-stacked MoTe2/WSe2 bilayers
A giant spin Hall effect with long spin diffusion length and coexisting with ferromagnetism is observed in AB-stacked MoTe2/WSe2 moiré hetero-bilayers.
- Zui Tao
- , Bowen Shen
- & Kin Fai Mak
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Article
| Open Access
Programmable multispecific DNA-origami-based T-cell engagers
A synthetic nanocarrier based on DNA origami chassis offers control over valency, orientation and spatial arrangement of antibodies for simultaneously engaging immune signalling pathways, checkpoint inhibition and targeted co-stimulation in anticancer immunotherapy in vivo.
- Klaus F. Wagenbauer
- , Nhi Pham
- & Hendrik Dietz
Asymmetric conducting route and potential redistribution determine the polarization-dependent conductivity in layered ferroelectrics