Articles in 2008

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  • It is now shown that femtosecond optical excitation can be used as a tool to investigate the spin-polarization properties of half-metals, and provide a clear distinction between those and metals. Such knowledge is of fundamental importance for the use of these materials in spintronics applications.

    • Georg M. Müller
    • Jakob Walowski
    • Markus Münzenberg
    Article
  • Manipulating the properties of semiconducting nanostructures through magnetic doping can lead to interesting fundamental phenomena, as well as potential spintronics or memory devices. The demonstration that the magnetic properties of Mn-doped ZnSe dots can be tuned by adjusting the thickness of a CdSe shell represents a fundamental advance in the field.

    • David A. Bussian
    • Scott A. Crooker
    • Victor I. Klimov
    Letter
  • Bridging the gap between theoretical and experimental work to understand the effect of plasticity on the crumpling of thin sheets into a small volume has proved difficult. A realistic numerical model now makes a distinction between elastic and elasto-plastic behaviour.

    • T. Tallinen
    • J. A. Åström
    • J. Timonen
    Letter
  • Understanding the short- and medium-range structure of metallic glasses remains a difficult challenge. The observation that the medium-range order has the characteristics of a fractal network may have broader implications in the understanding of the relation between structure and mechanical properties in metallic glasses.

    • D. Ma
    • A. D. Stoica
    • X.-L. Wang
    Letter
  • Electronically active materials made by the self-assembly of alternating layers of zinc oxide and conjugated molecules directly onto an electrode combine the advantages of their inorganic and organic components. They are shown to be stable photoconductors with promising device characteristics.

    • Marina Sofos
    • Joshua Goldberger
    • Samuel I. Stupp
    Article
  • Barack Obama's victory in the US presidential election is good news for researchers.

    Editorial
  • The tube model can explain how mutually entangled polymer chains move and interact, but it relies on the loose ends of chains to generate relaxation. Ring polymers have no ends — so how do they relax?

    • Tom McLeish
    News & Views
  • The durability of glasses and minerals in water has traditionally been predicted using models that ignore the molecular details. Now the surface structure dynamics are shown to play an integral role in their aqueous corrosion.

    • William H. Casey
    News & Views
  • Accordion-like honeycomb scaffolds support the formation of anisotropically contracting heart tissue in vitro, opening up possibilities in the area of cardiac tissue repair.

    • Wolfram-Hubertus Zimmermann
    News & Views
  • Does the high-temperature superconductivity observed in the newly discovered iron pnictides represent another example of the same essential physics responsible for superconductivity in the cuprates, or does it embody a new mechanism?

    • Steven A. Kivelson
    • Hong Yao
    News & Views
  • Externally applied pressure induces superconductivity in the layer compound 1T-TaS2. Similarities to, and differences from, other superconducting systems promise exciting future experiments on this old, but suddenly rejuvenated, compound.

    • Erio Tosatti
    News & Views
  • Nanostructured high-surface-area materials capable of converting energy into mechanical work are promising for use as actuation devices. Surface-chemistry-induced changes of the surface stress in nanoporous gold are now observed on alternate exposure to ozone and carbon monoxide.

    • J. Biener
    • A. Wittstock
    • A. V. Hamza
    Letter
  • The growth kinetics and crystallization behaviour of DNA-directed colloidal systems are not well understood. Now, using experiments and simulations, a single nucleotide mismatch in DNA strands attached to two microsphere species enables the kinetics of crystal growth and segregation as a result of crystallization to be investigated.

    • Anthony J. Kim
    • Raynaldo Scarlett
    • John C. Crocker
    Letter
  • Colloidal synthesis can help to precisely control the shape and composition of catalytic metal nanoparticles, but it has so far proved difficult to use these particles in high-temperature reactions. Core–shell structures capable of isolating Pt-mesoporous silica nanoparticles have now been shown to be catalytically active for ethylene hydrogenation and CO oxidation at high temperature.

    • Sang Hoon Joo
    • Jeong Young Park
    • Gabor A. Somorjai
    Article