Volume 11 Issue 1, January 2016

Predictions for the development of microelectronics provide a valuable example about the virtues of measured promises in nanotechnology, as Chris Toumey explains.

By taking advantage of the thermal gradient that is generated in plasmonic systems and by using an a.c. field, plasmonic tweezers can have a large radius of action and can trap and manipulate single nano-objects.

The light-powered assembly and disassembly of functionalized nanoparticles creates dynamic nanocavities with built-in selective uptake, reactivity and release.

The observation of single-photon emission at room temperature from defects in hexagonal boron nitride sheets opens new opportunities for quantum optics.

This Perspective discusses materials that can sustain hybrid surface plasmon and surface phonon polaritons for future nanophotonics applications.

Nanostructured metamaterials fabricated on nanomembranes can be reconfigured by thermal, electric, magnetic and optical forces resulting in dynamically controlled optical properties.

This Review discusses recent research efforts to confine and guide light at the nanoscale without using metals.

Single-photon emission at room temperature can be achieved with hexagonal boron nitride due to electron and hole confinement in vacancy-related defects.

Photodetectors based on graphene/WSe₂/graphene heterostructures combine an ultrafast photoresponse with high quantum efficiency.

A molecular positioning device made from DNA origami can adjust the average distance between fluorescent molecules and reactive groups in steps as small as 0.04 nm.

A plasmonic tweezer combining thermal and electric fields can be used to create fast fluid motion for rapid and accurate positioning of single nanoparticles.

Nanoparticles can absorb most of the incoming light irrespective of incidence angle and polarization and condense it into a monochromatic emission in the presence of a dye.

Scanning tunnelling microscopy measurements suggest that resistive switching in TaO_x, HfO_x and TiO_x can be caused by both the diffusion of oxygen vacancies and the migration of cations.

Using metal oxides for both the hole- and electron-transport layers in perovskite solar cells significantly improves their stability compared with devices containing organic transport layers.

Colloidal nanocrystals functionalized with light-responsive ligands can be cyclically assembled and disassembled to create nanoscale environments where chemical reaction rates are enhanced and stereoselectivities can be controlled.

A monovalent form of an engineered streptavidin can now be tethered to AFM cantilevers, representing a reliable anchoring tool with a well-defined pulling geometry for single-molecule force spectroscopy studies of proteins.

Suturing of ultrasmall blood vessels is now simplified through the use of a hydrogel that can act as a temporary stent on injection and can be removed through light irradiation.

Changxu Liu and Jianfeng Huang reflect on their experiences of a collaborative research project that was at a crossroads between physics and chemistry.