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Metal atoms tend to sinter at high temperature, leading to a decrease in the reactivity of atomically dispersed catalysts. Y. Li and co-workers report an unexpected phenomenon. After encapsulating palladium, platinum and gold nanoparticles in ZIF-8, they observed the progressive atomic dispersion of these noble metal atoms as single sites in the nitrogen-doped carbon derived from ZIF-8 pyrolysis. The cover is an artist's depiction of the thermal atomization process that requires the interaction of noble metal atoms with the defects of N-doped carbon. The thermally stable single atoms exhibit promising performance towards the semi-hydrogenation of acetylene.
The proposal for a reporting checklist for papers published in the area of nanobiomedicine is an opportunity to rekindle a conversation that started six years ago.
The new revisions of the Annexes of the European Union’s chemical legislation with regards to nanomaterials will provide more structure and clarity, but they will also force manufacturers, importers and downstream users to put substantial effort into understanding the details of what should and should not be done.
A proposed list of characterization items aims at improving reproducibility and consistency in experiments reporting the use of nanoengineered materials in biological applications.
Dekker et al. review protein sequencing at the single-molecule level, an entirely new technique for which various approaches including sequencing using fluorescence, nanopores and tunnelling currents are discussed.
The power output of a thermophotovoltaic device featuring an emitter and a photovoltaic cell increases by more than an order of magnitude when the gap size between the emitter and the cell is reduced to the nanoscale.
Graphene quantum dots inhibit the formation of alpha-synuclein fibrils and induce their dissociation in vitro, and display neuro-protective properties in in vivo models of Parkinson’s disease, with no appreciable long-term toxicity.
Colloidal state machines, composed of 2D nanoelectronics grafted onto submillimetre-sized particles, act as autonomous electronic circuits capable of logical operation and information storage.
Exploiting both pulsed resonant excitation and a large Purcell enhancement, a single quantum dot coupled to a photonic crystal nanostructure can deterministically produce highly indistinguishable single photons for on-chip quantum optical applications.
An integrated theoretical and experimental approach characterizes buried interfaces in nanocrystal-in-glass systems at the atomistic level, revealing how matrix density and specific defects may be designed to attain desirable electronic and transport properties.
Pd, Pt and Au nanoparticles are encapsulated in ZIF-8. The progressive atomic dispersion of these PGM atoms as single sites in the N-doped carbon derived from ZIF-8 pyrolysis is observed.