News & Comment

A single-electron transistor containing an island of superconducting aluminium could lead to a new way of defining the ampere

The negative capacitance effect exhibited by ferroelectric materials could enable nanoscale transistors to operate at very low voltages

Alkanes with a phosphine group at each end show better conductance when placed between two metal electrodes than others terminated with different functional groups

A special strain of bacteria can make long filamentous arsenic sulphide nanotubes that have useful electrical and optoelectronic properties

Barcoded nanodisk arrays that can be read with Raman spectroscopy are used to detect DNA sequences with high sensitivity

Damaged optical signals can be effectively restored by using silicon nanowires as waveguides

A theoretical study predicts the magnetic properties of snowflake-shaped graphene nanostructures

The rheological properties of silica nanofluids are examined by passing them through microchannels

An important biomarker for kidney injury can be detected with high electron mobility transistors based on AlGaN/GaN heterostructures

A single quantum dot can have a major impact on the optical properties of a nanocavity in a photonic crystal

The electronic properties of carbon nanotubes can be controlled by creating defects on the nanotube surface with a scanning tunnelling microscope

The lower size limit for platinum nanoparticles that can be used as effective catalysts in fuel cells has been determined using experimental and theoretical methods

Communicating the risks and benefits associated with nanotechnology to the general public is proving to be more subtle and complex than researchers might have expected.

Private investors have a lot to offer universities who are interested in developing and commercializing new technologies. Michael N. Helmus and Anil K. Rao describe how such partnerships can work in practice.

Developments in a technique known as nanostamping may lead to new and more efficient methods of making DNA microarrays

A new type of transistor built from a carbon nanotube is capable of detecting the transfer of individual electrons

The toxicity of zinc oxide to freshwater algae is similar in both its nanoparticulate and bulk forms, indicating that solubility effects may be an important consideration