Reviews & Analysis

In this review, we highlight the recent progress in two rising areas: solar energy conversion through plasmon-assisted interfacial electron transfer and plasmonic nanofabrication. Localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) of plasmonic nanoparticles and nanostructures has attracted increasing attention because of their strong near-field enhancement by interacting with visible light. Recent studies have demonstrated the capability of such plasmonic systems in producing ‘LSPR-induced hot-electrons’ that are useful in photoenergy conversion and storage when combined with electron-accepting semiconductors. Concurrently, ‘hot-electron decay’ results in strong photothermal responses or plasmonic local heating. This heating has received renewed interest in photothermal manipulation of nanoparticles and molecules.

Schematic illustration of Biomaterial Strategies for Controlled Growth Factor (GF) Delivery for Biomedical Applications. (a) The direct approaches for the immobilization/encapsulation of GFs to biomaterials; (b) Nanocarriers for GFs encapsulation and release; (c) GFs encapsulated nanocarriers functionalized biomaterials for tissue regeneration.

Fluorine, the element with the highest electronegativity and low electric polarizability, can produce a variety of characteristics, including specific adsorption sites for molecules as well as flexibility to the host materials. In this review, we will introduce fluorine-functionalized metal–organic frameworks/porous coordination polymers that show unique and unprecedented structures, structural transformations, and gas and vapor adsorption/separation properties derived from the fluorine characteristics.

Graphene nanomaterials hold great promise for the development of advanced water purification membranes, especially for water desalination. Their atomic thickness, extraordinary mechanical stability and potential for size-selective transport are ideal features, encouraging the membrane scientist across the world to investigate their applicability for water desalination. Graphene can potentially desalinate water either as monolayer or as multilayer membranes. In this review, we discuss these different classes of graphene membranes and highlight their merits and shortcomings. In addition, the theory behind their performance is presented in detail.

Formed by the self-assembly of protein subunits, protein nanocages can be engineered at the interior, exterior, and inter-subunit locations. Each type of modification can be tuned for specific biological applications. Multiple-modifications can be imparted to these nanocages without compromising its self-assembling property, creating multi-functional protein nanocage platforms. Potential applications of the modified protein nanocages include targeted delivery in complex cellular environments for therapeutic and diagnostic agents as well as modulation of cellular responses.

This review summarizes recent results on the syntheses and characterization of the non-native phases of h-CoO, h-MnO and c-ZnO transition metal monoxides compared to their native phases. The investigation of the size- and phase-selective synthetic methods, formation mechanism and unique physicochemical properties of non-native transition metal monoxides would have an enormous impact on materials chemistry and open a promising avenue for magnetic, electronic, and spintronic applications.

The microstructure dynamics of electrode materials during battery cycling is dictated by the coupling between their lattice, charge and orbital characteristics, as shown in the schematic. TEM monitoring enables tracking lattice and chemical bonding at high spatial resolution, and thereby establishes the relationship between structure and performances.