Research Highlights in 2009

A multifunctional nanoparticle that can help doctors find and treat cancer and atherosclerosis has been synthesized.

The storage capacity of lithium-ion batteries can be greatly improved by using silicon nanowires in the anode.

Metallic carbon nanotubes can be converted into semiconducting nanotubes by exposing them to light.

Scanning electron microscopes can now image single atoms thanks to aberration correction.

Growing mono-dispersed platinum nanoclusters using a graphene Moiré template.

Sonication can be used to predict the tensile strength of filamentous nanomaterials.

Single photons can generate multiple electron–hole pairs in carbon nanotubes.

A high-pressure phase of a material can be maintained even at ambient conditions by irradiating the material with heavy ions while it is under pressure.

Logic circuits can be enhanced by building a layer of memristors made of nanowires on existing chips.

Crystalline sheets of zeolite that are only one unit cell thick.

Strong control over the magnetic state of a solution-processed quantum dot doped with magnetic impurities is demonstrated.

A sensor based on single-walled carbon nanotubes can be used to monitor how certain cells take up materials.

By attaching a small molecule to the tip, an atomic force microscope can image the atoms within an adsorbed molecule.

Fullerene molecules make small holes when they adsorb onto a silver substrate.

Silver nanoparticles can record temperatures of an event and be read out after the episode.

Water droplets can be self-propelled at high speed on nanopatterned wedge-shaped surfaces.

By imaging light emission from chains of silver atoms, a fundamental principle of quantum mechanism can be visualized.

Catalytic nanomotors can detect silver ions