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By confining and concentrating light in a nanometric volume at the apex of a metallic tip, sub-molecule-scale control of a basic photochemical reaction — phototautomerization — is now shown to be possible. Applicable to other photo-induced reactions, this technique signals a new strategy for the synthesis of complex molecules on surfaces.
A process that leverages capillary interactions between oligomers in an elastomeric polydimethylsiloxane substrate and deposited Ga enables the formation of Ga nanodroplets with nanoscale gaps in a single step. Gap-plasmon resonances excited within the nanogaps give rise to structural colours that can be tuned by changing the oligomer content in the substrate or by mechanical stretching.
An aptamer-based nanobiosensor has been integrated into a wearable sweat sensor, allowing non-invasive tracking of the female reproductive hormone, oestradiol, with the potential to deliver sustainable solutions to female reproductive healthcare needs.
An encodable DNA clutch with the ability to recognize microenvironmental molecular inputs intelligently complements the remote control of a 200-nm sized magnetic nanomachine. This nanomachine interacts with biological machinery in vitro when the encoded clutch selectively engages the engine with the rotor while external magnetic fields power the rotation.
A robust initialization protocol has been demonstrated for a four-qubit nuclear spin register in silicon. The protocol, driven electrically through electric-dipole spin resonance, enables high-fidelity qubit control and hence a route to a register-based quantum computer that exploits the exceptional coherence properties of atom qubits in silicon.
This Review highlights the current understanding of mechanisms underlying the mechanical changes occurring in diseased and immune cells and discusses new approaches to leverage and target biomechanical cues for immune engineering at various length scales for therapeutic interventions.
Pre-adsorption of water molecules on a material surface, followed by assembly of a van der Waals (vdW) structure, provides a vdW water gap with a height that can be precisely tuned through variation of the amount of water adsorbed at the interface. This approach is applicable to different two-dimensional and even three-dimensional homo- and heterojunctions.
The Review discusses the state-of-the-art polymer nanocomposites from three key aspects: dipole activity, breakdown resistance and heat tolerance for capacitive energy storage applications.
Chitosan/glucose co-polymers encapsulating silver sulfide quantum dots can be used to improve oral delivery of insulin in different animal models without hypoglycaemic incidents.
Electrochemical carbon dioxide (CO2) reduction in acid with a nano-structured tandem catalyst achieves high single-pass conversion efficiency and selectivity to useful C–C coupled products, bringing the process closer to commercial viability.
Nanoparticles naturally accumulate in the liver; this can be a major limitation to any therapy needing delivery to other organs or tissues. Here the authors review the reason for predominant liver uptake and explore different strategies used to target non-viral gene delivery nanoparticles to other organs and tissues.
Conserved regions of the circular DNA sequence of the M13mp18 bacteriophage, which is used as a scaffold for DNA origami construction, are targeted with specific hybridization-chain-reaction probes. The probes enable sensitive detection of DNA origami nanostructures in cells, organoids and tissues to assess their biodistribution and stability.
Using fluorinated elastomers in the fabrication of soft neural probes is shown to enhance spatiotemporal recording capability at single-neuron resolution within the central nervous system of rodents. Other soft encapsulation materials could be similarly engineered for high-resolution, long-lasting bioelectronics.
A biohybrid, leaf-spring design of DNA origami functions as a pulsating nanoengine that exploits the DNA-templated RNA transcription mechanism while consuming nucleoside triphosphates as fuel. The nanoengine also drives a nanomechanical follower structure.
Directionality of nonlinear emission from a dielectric metasurface is controlled by fine-tuning the relative time delay and polarization of two pulsed pump beams.
