Volume 8 Issue 12, December 2013

Researchers in organic spintronics consider a more structured approach to the field.

Ten years after Richard Smalley and Eric Drexler exchanged views on the feasibility of atom-by-atom manipulation, the precise control of matter at the nanoscale and the fabrication of molecular machinery are still relatively limited, and practical applications are a long way off.

By incorporating photosensitive switches, protein nanocages can be made to open and close on demand with light.

Super-low friction between centimetre-long concentric carbon nanotubes has been observed in ambient conditions.

Images of individual carbon nanotubes with their respective optical spectra for chirality characterization are acquired directly on devices and growth substrates using a reflective polarized light microscopy set-up.

Complexes made of carbon nanotubes and polymers can potentially be used to selectively detect almost any molecule.

Self-sustaining electromechanical oscillators can be built from graphene membranes that vibrate at radiofrequencies and can be tuned by a gate voltage.

This Review covers the recent developments in the observation and modelling of magnetic skyrmions, including their topological properties, current-induced dynamics and potential in future information storage devices.

Superlubricity, which has so far been demonstrated only in nanometre-sized objects, has now been observed in centimetres-long carbon nanotubes.

A high-throughput optical imaging and spectroscopy technique has now been developed that characterizes the chirality and electronic structure of individual single-walled carbon nanotubes either on their growth substrate or in functional devices.

Self-sustained graphene mechanical oscillators with tunable frequencies are fabricated and used to demonstrate frequency-modulated audio transmission.

A naturally occurring protein assembly can be transformed into a light-controlled nanocage by incorporating a photochemical switch.

A vaccine in which toxin antigens are non-disruptively detoxified by the use of nanoparticles provides improved efficacy and immunogenicity as compared with toxoid vaccines prepared from denaturation processes.

A solid-state nanopore can be integrated with a graphene nanoribbon transistor to create a sensor that can detect DNA molecules using both the ionic current and the electrical current in the graphene nanoribbon.

Low-power visible light can be used to manipulate the surface charge of solid-state nanopores and can be used to control the translocation dynamics of DNA and proteins.

Efficient photocurrent generation, which can be tuned by the electric field of a gate to reach both high external and internal quantum efficiencies, is shown to occur in vertical heterostructures comprising graphene, MoS₂ and metals.

Synthetic polymers form highly selective molecular recognition motifs for biomolecules on adsorption onto single-walled carbon nanotubes.