Nanoscale materials articles within Nature Chemistry

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  • News & Views |

    To improve the efficiency of molecular motors, a better understanding of the dynamics of their functional motions is required. Now, ultrafast fluorescence spectroscopy has been used to monitor the excited-state evolution of a light-driven molecular motor.

    • R. J. Dwayne Miller

  • Review Article |

    Thiolate-protected gold surfaces and interfaces are archetypal systems in various fields of current research in nanoscience, materials science, inorganic chemistry and surface science. Examples include self-assembled monolayers of organic molecules on gold, passivated gold nanoclusters and molecule–gold junctions. This Review discusses recent experimental and theoretical breakthroughs that highlight common features of gold-sulfur bonding in these systems.

    • Hannu Häkkinen

  • Article |

    Triarylamine derivatives in solution have been self-assembled into organic nanowires between two electrodes, under white-light irradiation and in the presence of a voltage. The resulting fibres possess a very high electric conductivity as well as a metallic behaviour when cooled down to a temperature of 1.5 K.

    • Vina Faramarzi
    • , Frédéric Niess
    •  & Nicolas Giuseppone

  • News & Views |

    The technological relevance of zeolites, the desire to improve their efficiency and the inexhaustible synthetic options to tailor their properties have triggered a permanent evolution of this superclass of materials. Two zeolite nanosystems prepared by distinct approaches reflect this and offer hope for new applications.

    • Javier Pérez-Ramírez

  • News & Views |

    Polymer vesicles have been constructed that entrap platinum nanoparticles in their outer surface. These serve to break down a fuel of hydrogen peroxide, generating water and oxygen and in turn inducing a propulsive effect.

    • Jonathan Howse

  • Article |

    Transparent conductive electrodes are widely used in modern optoelectronic devices, but they are rarely transparent in the near-infrared, limiting their use. Nanostructured bismuth selenide, a topological insulator, is now shown to be a flexible near-infrared transparent electrode.

    • Hailin Peng
    • , Wenhui Dang
    •  & Zhongfan Liu

  • Article |

    A supramolecular system has been assembled that moves autonomously in the presence of a molecular fuel. Platinum nanoparticles entrapped in a polymer stomatocyte — a bowl-shaped polymer vesicle — catalyse the decomposition of the molecular fuel, hydrogen peroxide. The resulting generation of water and oxygen induces a directional movement of the stomatocyte.

    • Daniela A. Wilson
    • , Roeland J. M. Nolte
    •  & Jan C. M. van Hest

  • News & Views |

    How do you create a molecular circuit board? Covalently coupling different molecules in a sequential manner in surface-based nanostructures opens up new possibilities and hopes for molecular electronics.

    • Neil R. Champness

  • Article |

    Surfactant-capped nanoparticles of various sizes, shapes and compositions have been completely enshrouded within a metal–organic framework in a controlled, well-dispersed manner. The resulting hybrid materials exhibit active properties — catalytic, magnetic and optical — arising from the nanoparticles as well as sieving and orientation effects originating from the porous framework.

    • Guang Lu
    • , Shaozhou Li
    •  & Fengwei Huo

  • Article |

    Intracellular biothiols can degrade nanoparticle monolayers, compromising the function of these potentially promising tools. Here, we describe a label-free method for quantifying the intracellular stability of quantum dot monolayers, using laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry coupled with inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry.

    • Zheng-Jiang Zhu
    • , Yi-Cheun Yeh
    •  & Vincent M. Rotello

  • News & Views |

    Characterizing electrochemical behaviour on the nanometre scale is fundamental to gaining complete insight into the working mechanisms of fuel cells. The application of a new scanning probe microscopy technique can now relate local surface structure to electrochemical activity at a resolution below 10 nm.

    • Johannes A. A. W. Elemans

  • Article |

    The outer surfaces of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) are known to participate in a range of chemical reactions, but the inner surfaces have so far been thought to be somewhat unreactive. Now, it has been shown that electron-beam irradiation of rhenium–fullerene complexes inside SWNTs can trigger reactions at the inner wall to form protrusions on the nanotube surface.

    • Thomas W. Chamberlain
    • , Jannik C. Meyer
    •  & Andrei N. Khlobystov

  • Article |

    Optimizing oxygen-reduction and -evolution reactions is crucial for improving fuel cell efficiency, but the reaction is poorly understood at the nanoscopic level. Now, the oxygen activity of a platinum-functionalized surface has been mapped at below 10-nm resolution using electrochemical strain microscopy.

    • Amit Kumar
    • , Francesco Ciucci
    •  & Stephen Jesse

  • Perspective |

    The efficient engineering of nanostructures with semiconducting properties is vital to the development of organic electronics. This Perspective discusses a variety of techniques for fabricating such macromolecules, including graphene carving, the stimulus-induced synthesis of conjugated polymers and surface-assisted synthesis, and considers their potential for reproducing chemically and spatially precise molecular arrangements, that is 'molecular blueprints'.

    • Carlos-Andres Palma
    •  & Paolo Samorì

  • Article |

    The potential for using molecules as wires in nanoscale electronics is somewhat tempered by the challenges in making long and uniform structures. Now, it has been shown that DNA — which is easily synthesized to precise lengths — can conduct charge over 34 nm on multiplexed gold electrodes, a distance that surpasses most reports of molecular wires.

    • Jason D. Slinker
    • , Natalie B. Muren
    •  & Jacqueline K. Barton

  • Research Highlights |

    A material with viscoleastic properties that are stable over a large temperature range has been created from carbon nanotubes.

    • Neil Withers

  • Article |

    Ceramic preparation of spinels — materials useful for a wide range of applications — requires complicated procedures and heat treatment over long periods. Now, it is shown that rapid synthesis of nanocrystalline Co–Mn–O spinels can be achieved under ambient conditions, and the resulting nanoparticles exhibit considerable catalytic activity towards the electrochemical oxygen reduction/evolution reactions.

    • Fangyi Cheng
    • , Jian Shen
    •  & Jun Chen

  • Article |

    The co-existence of superconductivity and magnetism in single compounds is rare, and heterostructures containing both properties have only been made with complex techniques. Now, a molecular-building-block approach has been applied to match organic and inorganic layers to produce multifunctional materials.

    • Eugenio Coronado
    • , Carlos Martí-Gastaldo
    •  & Peter J. Baker

  • Article |

    Large polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons or nanographenes have huge potential for organic electronics applications, but it is challenging to synthesize them in a controlled way. Now, a surface chemical route has been used to produce tailored nanographenes with atomically precise control over the final structure.

    • Matthias Treier
    • , Carlo Antonio Pignedoli
    •  & Roman Fasel

  • Research Highlights |

    Introducing a layer of gold alloy between the outer platinum shell and palladium core of a nanoparticle improves its activity as a catalyst for oxygen reduction.

    • Gavin Armstrong

  • Research Highlights |

    Single crystals of chromium silicide have been prepared that grow into highly crystalline nanowebs.

    • Anne Pichon

  • Research Highlights |

    An oscillatory reaction has been used to drive the rhythmical assembly and disassembly of gold nanoparticles.

    • Gavin Armstrong

  • News & Views |

    The efficient catalytic oxidation of water to dioxygen in the solid state is one of the challenges to be overcome to build sun-driven and/or electrocatalytic water-splitting devices. Now, an effective water-oxidation hybrid catalyst system has been made by attaching a ruthenium-polyoxometallate complex to a carbon nanotube.

    • Antoni Llobet

  • Research Highlights |

    Molecular dynamics simulations suggest that proton transfer in water within a carbon nanotube occurs through a mechanism different from that found in bulk water.

    • Gavin Armstrong

  • Research Highlights |

    A nanocomposite of bacterial cellulose nanofibrils and cobalt ferrite nanoparticles combines the flexibility of the former with the magnetic properties of the latter.

    • Neil Withers

  • Article |

    Catalytically oxidizing water to produce oxygen is so challenging that even the enzyme that performs the task in nature must be regenerated every 30 mins. Now, stable oxygen-evolving anodes have been made by tethering a polyoxometalate catalyst to a conducting bed of carbon nanotubes.

    • Francesca M. Toma
    • , Andrea Sartorel
    •  & Marcella Bonchio

  • Research Highlights |

    Infrared measurements from a space telescope have identified fullerene molecules in a planetary nebula.

    • Neil Withers

  • Article |

    The wealth of solution-chemistry properties of a well-known M6L4 coordination cage can be transferred into the solid state by networking the cage into a highly porous crystalline structure. The material behaves as a ‘fullerene sponge’, absorbing up to 35 wt% of C60 or C70 into the crystal, with a preference for C70 when exposed to mixtures of the two.

    • Yasuhide Inokuma
    • , Tatsuhiko Arai
    •  & Makoto Fujita

  • Research Highlights |

    The unit cell volume of alkali metal fullerides is related to the temperature at which superconducting behaviour begins.

    • Neil Withers

  • Research Highlights |

    A heated AFM tip has been used to create nanoscale patterns of reduced graphene oxide.

    • Gavin Armstrong

  • Editorial |

    As the beautiful game once again takes to the world stage this summer, it is worth remembering that 2010 also marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of the professional debut of a very tiny football.

  • Article |

    Usable electronic devices exploiting the attractive properties of graphene will require narrow ‘nanoribbons’ of the atom-thin carbon sheets. Ribbons narrower than 5 nm are desirable for effective devices, but conventional lithography is limited to 20 nm. Now, a gas-phase chemical approach for etching graphene from the edges has produced graphene nanoribbons below 5 nm.

    • Xinran Wang
    •  & Hongjie Dai

  • Article |

    Metal-containing fullerene cages are widely known, but hard to characterize because of their reactivity towards empty cages. Now the molecular and crystal structures of lithium-containing C60 molecules have been determined.

    • Shinobu Aoyagi
    • , Eiji Nishibori
    •  & Hiromi Tobita

  • Research Highlights |

    The hydrophilic edges and hydrophobic centres of graphene oxide sheets mean they act as surfactants.

    • Neil Withers

  • Article |

    Thermal reduction of graphene oxide is an attractive route towards the preparation of graphene, but complete removal of residual oxygen is problematic. Now, molecular dynamics simulations elucidate the chemical changes involved in this process.

    • Akbar Bagri
    • , Cecilia Mattevi
    •  & Vivek B. Shenoy

  • Research Highlights |

    Radioactive iodide can be aimed at specific organs in the body by trapping it inside sugar-functionalized carbon nanotubes.

    • Stephen Davey

  • Article |

    Although fullerenes have been synthesized from graphite for a long time, the exact mechanism is relatively unknown. Now, in situ microscopy and quantum chemical modelling have directly followed the formation of fullerenes from a single graphitic sheet — graphene.

    • Andrey Chuvilin
    • , Ute Kaiser
    •  & Andrei N. Khlobystov

  • Research Highlights |

    Molybdenum and tungsten sulfide nanosheets, analogous to graphene, have been made.

    • Neil Withers

  • Article |

    Fullerene cages that break the isolated pentagon rule are rare and often unstable. Now a range of fullerenes that feature three sequentially fused pentagons of carbon have been stabilized by chlorination.

    • Yuan-Zhi Tan
    • , Jia Li
    •  & Lan-Sun Zheng

  • News & Views |

    Chemical reactions of fullerenes and metallofullerenes lined up inside single-walled carbon nanotubes can be monitored at the atomic scale inside an aberration-corrected transmission electron microscope.

    • Mauricio Terrones

  • News & Views |

    A molecular 'walker' can be made to move up and down a molecular 'track' by alternately locking and unlocking the two different types of covalent bonds that join the two components together. By changing the conditions under which one of the bond-forming/bond-breaking processes occurs, a directional bias for walking can be achieved.

    • Sijbren Otto

  • Article |

    Well-resolved images of small molecules and their motions can be obtained with high-resolution transmission electron microscopy. It has now been shown that this technique can also be used to visualize individual chemical reactions involving the dimerization of fullerenes and metallo-fullerenes trapped inside carbon nanotubes by monitoring how the positions of their atoms change over time.

    • Masanori Koshino
    • , Yoshiko Niimi
    •  & Sumio Iijima

  • News & Views |

    Embedding platinum nanoparticles in a polymer matrix produces a system that reacts like a homogeneous catalyst, but provides the stability and separation advantages of a heterogeneous one.

    • Gadi Rothenberg

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