Articles in 2021

An electrically reconfigurable optical metasurface using a Ge₂Sb₂Se₄Te phase change material shows half an octave spectral tuning and promising performances for optical beam steering applications.

Topological insulators possess edge states protected from disorder and can be realized in real materials as well as in synthetic materials based on optical, acoustic or mechanical characteristics. In addition to the spin, the orbital degree of freedom now provides an extra handle for manipulating topological phases.

A metasurface comprising electrically controlled heating units and a phase-change material offer non-volatile and reversible modulation of reflectance by more than fourfold.

A 1/3 power law between thermal conductivity and length of a NbSe₃ nanowire is observed, pointing towards a superdiffusive heat transport regime.

The nanotechnology-enabled mRNA-based vaccine platform recently approved against COVID-19 bears hope for improved vaccine development and trialling capacities in low- and middle-income countries as part of a broader global public health agenda.

To achieve the biggest impact, nanotechnology-based strategies developed to manage infectious diseases in resourced-limited settings need to take into account the local context.

Sharing protocols with the end-users may allow their flexible implementation to produce nanotechnology solutions for global health challenges that better cater for local needs.

Surgical resection is the primary treatment strategy for glioblastoma multiforme, but the infiltrating nature of the tumour, coupled with its heterogeneity and the presence of the blood–brain barrier that hampers drug delivery, contributes to recurrence and poor prognosis. Here the authors engineer a mechanically flexible mesh that can adhere to the tumour resected cavity and release a combination of nanomedicines and small molecules in a controlled and sustained manner for tumour therapy.

Near-field optical microscopy reveals unique nanoscale domain structures of Moiré patterns in minimally twisted bilayer graphene via the photothermoelectric effect.

When developing nanotechnology solutions for global health it is important to be mindful of the ethical, environmental, socio-economical, cultural and legal aspects associated with their deployment.

Living electrodes enable signalling into a microbial community, coordinating behaviour.

Ultra-high-frequency radio-frequency acoustic molecular imaging is a safe molecular imaging diagnostic option because it does not require radioactive probes or high magnetic fields, but lack of biocompatible targeted contrast agents has so far limited its in vivo application. In this paper the authors present perfluorocarbon nanodroplets containing hypertonic saline solution for targeted molecular imaging of prostate cancer in animal models.

Expansion microscopy, or ExM, physically expands biological specimens upon embedding them in swellable polymeric hydrogels, allowing nanoscale imaging using conventional microscopes. This work presents a diamond lattice polymeric hydrogel synthesized via click chemistry, which achieves higher homogeneity than the ones currently in use, allowing a more accurate sample expansion.

By incorporating an atomically defined HgS interlayer at the core/shell interface of CdSe/CdS quantum dots, these normally visible-light emitters can be converted into spectrally tunable, near-infrared fluorophores that exhibit excellent light-emission characteristics under both optical and electrical excitation.

Self-assembly of small drugs with organic dyes represents a facile route to synthesize nanoparticles with high drug-loading capability. Here the authors combine a machine learning approach with high-throughput experimental validation to identify which combinations of drugs and excipient lead to successful nanoparticle formation and characterize the therapeutic efficacy of two of them in vitro and in animal models.

This Review outlines the potential applications of nanotechnology-based treatments for infectious diseases, with a specific focus on the progress and challenges in developing nanomedicines against HIV, tuberculosis and malaria.

Energy- and area-efficient vanadium-dioxide-based Mott activation neuron devices enable the implementation of activation functions in neural networks.

Selective growth of nanoporous metal–organic framework nanocrystals in the stacking defects of graphene oxide layers improves the mechanical integrity and water–solute selectivity of graphene oxide membranes.

In a simple bilayer structure, spin torque induced by a reduced crystal symmetry switches perpendicular magnetization reliably at zero magnetic field.

Despite its high promise, there are still many challenges for CRISPR-mediated plant genetic engineering, yet nanotechnology can play an important role in lowering and possibly eliminating these challenges.