Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain
the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in
Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles
and JavaScript.
Giant magnetoresistive nanosensors are used to quantify the binding kinetics of proteins at the surface of the sensor array, thus offering a sensitive assay for applications in antibody and drug development, and clinical diagnostics.
Colloidal dispersions of carbon nanotubes in polymers can be used to make electrically conductive composites with percolation thresholds that can be tailored by adding latex particles.
The temperatures of the graphene–metal contacts in working transistors have been measured with a resolution of ∼10 nm, revealing the presence of both heating and cooling effects.
Ultrathin large-area solid-oxide membranes can be fabricated using lithographically patterned metallic grids and used to make fuel cells that operate at relatively low temperatures.
Pregnant mice treated with silica and titanium dioxide nanoparticles show abnormalities in the placenta and have smaller uterine and fetuses than untreated control mice and those receiving larger particles.
Thin films of single-wall carbon nanotube have been used to create stretchable devices that can be incorporated into clothes and used to detect human motions.
Self-assembled nanostructured cathodes allow lithium-ion and nickel-metal hydride batteries to charge and discharge at very high rates without significant loss of capacity.
Insulating thin films with a random structure can undergo a nanoscale metal–insulator transition by making the film thickness size less than or more than the electron diffusion distance.
Nitrogen-vacancy-centre spin coherence can be used to detect two or more distant nuclear spins if they are strongly bonded to each other and to measure nuclear magnetic resonances of single molecules.
Hybrid structures made of nanoporous gold and nanocrystalline manganese dioxide offer high specific capacitances and high charge–discharge rates, which makes them promising candidates for the electrode materials in electrochemical supercapacitors.
Coating the walls of synthetic nanopores with fluid lipids slows down the translocation of proteins, eliminates non-specific binding and prevents clogging, thus offering a way to improve the performance of nanopore-based sensors.
Approaches in quantitative structure–activity relationships developed to predict the physical and chemical properties of chemical compounds can also be used to predict the toxicity of nanoparticles.
The contact resistance of a junction between graphene and palladium is shown to be strongly affected by carrier transport in graphene underneath the palladium, and is measured to be just two to three times larger than the minimum resistance achievable.