Volume 14 Issue 7, July 2019

Following our call to join in the discussion over the suitability of implementing a reporting checklist for bio–nano papers, the community responds.

Chris Toumey continues his journey through ethics in nanotechnology by examining literature published in the past decade.

A single dose of carbon nanotubes enhances breast cancer metastasis in mouse models.

Grafting nanodroplets by surface-initiated atom transfer radical polymerization can be carried out at liquid–liquid interfaces.

The development of devices that exploit the intrinsic properties of two-dimensional materials can provide opportunities for in-memory computing and area-efficient integrated circuits based on Moore’s law.

The combination of ferroelectrics and phase-change materials provides a route towards phase-change data storage at room temperature, without heating.

This Review highlights the progress made so far in engineering nanomaterials for neurotechnology applications, from neuron signal sensing and modulation to brain stimulation, with an outlook on what these technologies can enable in the future.

Thermal diffusion of skyrmions in a non-flat energy landscape shows exponential temperature dependence and can be used for a reshuffler device with potential application in probabilistic computing.

The atomic thickness of two-dimensional materials enables the realization of a small footprint transistor architecture for photoswitching logic computing in a single cell.

Strain-induced phase change in MoTe₂ enables reversible channel conductivity switching in a field-effect transistor geometry.

Magneto-transport measurements on thin metallic crystals of the transition metal dichalcogenide PtSe₂ show signatures of ferro- and antiferromagnetic order depending on the number of layers and first-principles calculations suggest Pt vacancies at the surface as a plausible cause.

In individual tungsten diselenide nanodisks, excitonic and anapole modes can strongly couple to form a polariton.

Eutectic Ga-In droplets can be functionalized with various polymers and co-polymers using atom transfer radical polymerization. The droplets are ready for direct solution processing to form liquid-metal nanocomposites for potential applications in soft robotics.

Current pulses of 10⁵ A cm⁻² can control the orientation of 100-nm-wide stripe domains in La_0.67Sr_0.33MnO₃ and spin waves of 10 GHz can propagate along these domains with a group velocity of 2.6 km s⁻¹.

Light scattering spectra are acquired in the near field to map dipole–dipole interactions and extract all their vectorial components with 5-nm spatial resolution.

A nanoporous polyimide film filled with a solid polymer electrolyte has high ionic conductivity and high mechanical strength. An all-solid-state battery made with an approximately 10-μm-thick film shows good cyclability at 60 °C and no dendrite formation.

Virus nanoparticles can penetrate soil to a depth of 30 cm, thus showing potential to effectively deliver nanopesticides.

In a breast cancer animal model, long-term exposure to carbon nanotubes promotes tumour invasiveness and metastasis through activation of local and systemic inflammation.