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Protein-based membranes can cope with water fluxes much higher than those that can be handled by commercial membranes with similar rejection properties.
Experiments on single-crystal nanobeams have revealed several new aspects of a phenomenon that has puzzled physicists for decades — the metal–insulator transition in vanadium dioxide.
Semiconductor nanowires need to be doped before they can be used for many applications, but this process is not well understood. A laser-based approach has now shed new light on the doping of nanowires.
An atomic force microscope has been used to create nanoscale field-effect transistors and other electronic devices at the interface between two different oxide materials.
A rigid molecule that changes shape when exposed to light can be used to explore the influence of mechanical force on chemical reactions involving small functional groups.
A three-dimensional assay based on genetically engineered viral nanoparticles and nickel nanohairs can detect much lower levels of protein markers associated with heart attacks than conventional assays.
As the removal of excess heat becomes increasingly important in semiconductor devices, localized thermoelectric cooling might be the answer to the problem of hotspots.
Graphene samples with areas of several square centimetres and excellent electrical and optical properties have been fabricated using chemical vapour deposition.
The observation of a Mott transition from a metal to an insulator in an ultraclean carbon nanotube could open the door to a new generation of experiments that explore the influence of electron correlations on the properties of condensed-matter systems.
Current diagnostic tools detect cartilage degeneration only at advanced stages, but the atomic force microscope can now detect structural changes earlier, paving the way for treatment of joint diseases.
Information can be encoded in electron waves on a surface using electronic holograms constructed from single molecules. The information is stored in two spatial dimensions and one energy dimension, and is read with a scanning tunnelling microscope.
Semiconducting inks based on carbon nanotubes have mobilities that are comparable with those of polycrystalline silicon, and could one day match the performance of single-crystal silicon. A host of applications based on this inexpensive approach to electronics are expected.
It is possible to couple the spins of molecular nanomagnets — each acting as a quantum bit — to make an entangled state that could prove useful in a quantum computer.
