News & Views in 2012

A single layer of graphene can be used as a tunnel barrier for spin injection in silicon with several advantages over other materials that have previously been used.

A surface plasmon resonance imaging technique can be used to probe electrocatalytic reactions occurring on individual nanoparticles.

A molecular spin transistor can be used to electronically measure the nuclear spin of a single atom.

Local proton irradiation causes a chemical reaction that leads to nanopatterned magnetic media. The technique has strong potential for improving high-density data storage and other types of applications involving nanostructuring of materials.

Graphene promises water desalination at throughputs much higher than state-of-the-art membranes.

Silver disk-over-hole nanostructures create bright colours and fine tonal variations with the best possible resolution for visible light.

Cerium oxide nanoparticles introduced into a full-scale incinerator are properly filtered and remain in ash residues, but other risks from nanoparticles generated or altered by incinerators should not be overlooked.

Nanoscale charge channels combine the benefits of vacuum tubes with solid-state electronics.

Lentil-shaped liposomes, formed from novel phospholipids that have an unnatural structure, release their contents only under high shear stress such as inside a constricted blood vessel, offering a way to deliver drugs to clogged arteries without the use of targeting ligands.

Singling out the role of nanotwins in materials' failure can guide the design of metallic nanostructures with both high strength and high ductility.

One-dimensional strings of metal nanocubes can be precisely self-assembled with the help of polymer chemistry.

Quantum dots that contain cadmium, selenium and zinc are not toxic to monkeys for periods of up to 90 days, but longer-term studies are needed to determine the ultimate fate of the heavy metals that accumulate in the organs.

Electrons can be confined to individual momentum valleys in the electronic structure of molybdenum disulphide by shining circularly polarized light onto single layers of this two-dimensional material.

The dispersion forces between atoms and nanostuctures have been measured by using a scanning probe microscope in which the tip is a confined gas of ultracold atoms.

Repairing disordered blood vessels in tumours can improve the delivery of small nanomedicines.

The binding and unbinding of single proteins to a gold nanorod can be detected with the help of the surface plasmon resonance of the nanorod.

A hybrid photodetector unites the electronic properties of graphene with the optical properties of colloidal quantum dots to achieve high sensitivity.

Combining copper(II) phosphate and proteins leads to the formation of hybrid nanostructures that are shaped like flowers and have enhanced catalytic activity and stability.

Precisely engineered DNA nanostructures can be used to deliver small interfering RNA molecules into cells and tumours to suppress genes.

Amyloid protein fibrils and graphene sheets can be combined to make a material that is biodegradable and has useful shape-memory and enzyme-sensing properties.