Volume 15 Issue 2, February 2020

Targeting of local macrophages by functionalized carbon nanotubes enables efferocytosis and clearance of atherosclerotic plaques.

A membrane placed below the plane of an emitter and a receiver can interact with the radiative modes and modulate heat transfer by as much as a factor of five.

The sensitivity and visual acuity of the eye of the shrimp L. vannamei are achieved via an exquisitely optimized nanostructured tapetum leading to a very high reflectivity in an ultrathin layer. Understanding the properties of such natural nanostructures can lead to the design of artificial photonic materials with enhanced properties.

A torque sensitivity of (4.2 ± 1.2) × 10⁻²⁷ N m Hz^−1/2 is achieved at room temperature. This sensitivity would be enough to measure vacuum friction.

Lithium whisker growth and mechanical properties can be studied in situ using a combination of two microscopies.

Nanoscale heat currents between a hot and a cold surface can be modulated by as much as five times using a third element that interacts evanescently with the guided modes of the hot surface.

Tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy can provide chemical sensitivity at a single-molecule level. Measurements on individual molecules adsorbed on a thin salt layer unveil that components of the electric field perpendicular to the tip provide sensitivity to the symmetry of the vibrational modes of the molecule.

Fast all-electrical switching of magnetic tunnel junctions is required to improve the next generation of non-volatile memory. The combination of spin–orbit torques, spin-transfer torques, and the voltage control of magnetic anisotropy permits switching latency smaller than 0.2 ns as unveiled by real-time observation of the switching dynamics.

The low carrier mobilities of TMDCs pose a challenge for applications in high-speed photodetection. Integrating vertical two-dimensional heterostructures with photonic waveguides allows the intrinsic speed limitations to be overcome and record-high photodetection bandwidths to be achieved.

Non-intrusive integration of metasurfaces with vertical cavity surface-emitting lasers enables fully arbitrary wavefront control for directional laser emission.

The interfacing of Cu with nitrogen-doped nanodiamond enables the electrocatalytic production of C₂ oxygenates from CO₂ with promising stability.

The birefringence of isoxanthopterin crystalline spherulites enhances the reflectivity of a biological photonic crystal.

HER2-targeting peptide-based micelles transform into nanofibrils on binding to HER2 on cancer cells, triggering cancer cell apoptosis and tumour death in vivo.

Single-walled carbon nanotubes can restore phagocytotic properties of macrophages in artherosclerotic plaques to promote plaque clearance and combat artherosclerosis.