Volume 17 Issue 2, February 2022

Ned Seeman, pioneer of the field of structural DNA nanotechnology, passed away on November 16, 2021.

Curvilinear DNA-shaped magnetic double helices enable tunable magnetic field nanotextures.

A spectacular advance in catalyst synthesis is demonstrated by a two-step process that yields high loadings of single atoms at a kilogram scale suitable for industrial deployment.

This Review discusses synthetic strategies to functionalize photoluminescent carbon nanomaterials, or carbon dots, for targeted applications.

In magnetic double nanohelices, the balance of geometrical effects and dipolar interaction results in strongly coupled three-dimensional spin states. This leads to topological features in the stray field, offering a new route to pattern the magnetic induction.

In moiré superlattice van der Waals magnetic materials, competing interactions emerge and can stabilize new magnetic states. Here, stacking-dependent interlayer exchange interactions in small-twist-angle CrI₃ bilayers yield an ordered ground state with coexisting ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic regions.

Quantum fluctuation in a vacuum can induce a measurable force between neutral objects in close vicinity. By dynamically modulating a system of two micromechanical oscillators near an exceptional point in the parameter space, this so-called Casimir effect can induce a non-reciprocal, diode-like energy transfer.

Dense, short hydrophobic nanochannels have been restacked from two-dimensional quantum sheets to achieve both high areal and volumetric capacitance in thick electrodes under ultrahigh rates.

An artificial molecular machine was designed by coupling a chemical equilibrium to a photoresponsive molecular motor. Upon light illumination, the rotary movement of the motor performs work on the chemical equilibrium generating a far-from-equilibrium state.

Nonlocal noise thermometry enables experimental probing of energy transport in emergent states of matter and devices in low dimensions.

A general versatile approach combining wet-chemistry impregnation and two-step annealing is devised for the scalable synthesis of a library of ultra-high-density single-atom catalysts with drastically enhanced reactivity.

Square-centimetre scale, multilayer superlattice structures based on atomically thin two-dimensional chalcogenide monolayers enable the realization of excitonic metamaterials.

A combination of quantitative optical spectroscopic techniques and synchrotron nanoprobe measurements enable a visualization of the nanoscale chemical, structural and optoelectronic landscape in halide perovskite devices.

A study of gold nanospheres and nanorods shows that, even without internalization, they are very efficient for siRNA delivery and inducing gene silencing in mature plant leaves.

Malignant pleural effusion (MPE) is the terminal stage of cancer and the current standard of care for MPE is largely palliative. Here the authors design a liposomal nanoparticle loaded with cyclic dinucleotide for targeted activation of STING signalling in macrophages and dendritic cells and show that, on intrapleural administration, the nanoparticle effectively mitigates the immune cold MPE and significantly augments the checkpoint blockade immunotherapy in a mouse MPE model and clinical patients’ samples.