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Two-step bioorthogonal chemistry increases nanoparticle binding for more sensitive cell detection compared with standard techniques, including the biotin–avidin system.
Bacterial cellulose is used as templates to make highly flexible and lightweight magnetic aerogels and stiff magnetic nanopaper that are useful as responsive actuators and functional magnetic materials.
A technique based on scanning probe microscopy, which uses a two-dimensional array of nanoscopic apertures fabricated at the end of polymer tips to channel light to an underlying substrate, can be used to generate arbitrary patterns with both sub-diffraction limit and larger feature sizes over large areas.
Computer simulations show that the shape and initial orientation of nanoparticles on a lipid bilayer can affect the way they penetrate it, thus offering new insights for the design of nanocarriers for various biological applications.
Carbon-black nanoparticles activated by femtosecond laser pulses can facilitate cell uptake of small molecules, proteins and DNA while maintaining high cell viability.
Multiple-transcription-factor proteins are used to build complex logic circuits inside mammalian cells, offering a platform for intelligent therapeutics that interact with biological environments.
Electrons confined to a ferromagnetic metallic nanoparticle in a semiconductor matrix have spin-relaxation times two orders of magnitude longer than any previously measured in a metal, with potential applications for spintronic devices.
Hysteresis-free operation of carbon nanotube transistors in ambient air is demonstrated by using self-aligned on-chip shadow masks to suspend ultraclean nanotubes from needle-like metallic contacts.
A technique that employs surface-diffusion-mediated deposition has been used to form ‘soft’ electronic contacts on molecular layers with excellent yields and reproducibility.
Radiofrequency magnetic-field heating of nanoparticles can activate temperature-sensitive ion channels, offering an alternative to optical methods for stimulating cells remotely.
Carbon nanotube tips containing imprints within a non-conducting polymer coating can detect proteins with high sensitivity, offering a label-free alternative to sensors based on biomolecule recognition.
Graphene films with electrical and optical characteristics superior to indium tin oxide are produced in a roll-to-roll process and used to construct devices with flexible touch-screen panels.
DNA can self-assemble into prestressed tensegrity nanostructures composed of compressed bundles of double helices and tense linking segments of single-stranded DNA.
Dithiocarbamates are used to form contacts between metal electrodes and molecules, producing molecular junctions that display a low contact resistance and good thermal stability.
A lithium battery whose positive electrode consists of functionalized carbon nanotubes can achieve higher energy densities than electrochemical capacitors while delivering higher power than conventional lithium-ion batteries.
The resistance of a network of nanoscale loops of La2−xSrxCuO4 oscillates as a function of the magnetic flux through the loops in a way that cannot be explained by the classic Little–Parks effect, but also rules out some theoretical predictions about these systems.
High-angle annular dark-field scanning transmission electron microscopy, combined with electron energy-loss spectroscopy, can analyse both the organic and inorganic components of a hybrid nanoparticle.