Nanoscience

Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) is a surface-sensitive vibrational spectroscopy that allows Raman spectroscopy on a single molecular scale. Here, we present a review of SERS from molecular junctions, in which a single molecule or molecules are made to have contact from the top to the bottom of metal surfaces. The molecular junctions are nice platforms for SERS as well as transport measurement. Electronic characterization based on the transport measurements of molecular junctions has been extensively studied for the development of miniaturized electronic devices...

Surface/interface charge carrier generation, diffusion and recombination/transport modulation are especially important in the construction of photodetectors with high-efficiency in the field of nanoscience. In the paper, a kind of ultraviolet (UV) detector is designed based on ZnO nanostructures considering photon-trapping, surface plasmonic resonance (SPR), piezophototronic effect, interface carrier trapping/transport control and collection. Through carefully optimized surface/interface carrier transport modulation, the designed device with detectivity as high as of 1...

Gemini surfactants have been the subject of intensive scrutiny by virtue of their unique combination of physical and chemical properties and being used in ordinary household objects to multifarious industrial processes. In this review, we summarize the recent developments of gemini surfactants, highlighting the classification of gemini surfactants based on the variation in headgroup polarity, flexibility/rigidity of spacer, hydrophobic alkyl chain and counterion along with potential applications of gemini surfactants, depicting the truly remarkable journey of gemini surfactants that has just come of age...

Research on ultrathin nanomaterials is one of the fastest developing areas in contemporary nanoscience. The field of ultrathin one- (1D) and two-dimensional (2D) colloidal nanocrystals (NCs) is still in its infancy, but offers the prospect of production of ultrathin nanomaterials in liquid-phase at relatively low costs, with versatility in terms of composition, size, shape, and surface control. In this Perspective, the state of the art in the field is concisely outlined and critically discussed to highlight the essential concepts and challenges...

Plasmon properties are of significant interest in pure and applied nanoscience. While time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT) can be used to study plasmons, it becomes impractical for elucidating the effect of size, geometric arrangement, and dimensionality in complex nanosystems. In this study, a new multiscale formalism that addresses this challenge is proposed. This formalism is based on Trotter factorization and the explicit introduction of a coarse-grained (CG) structure function constructed as the Weierstrass transform of the electron wavefunction...

Two-dimensional (2D) ultra-thin materials beyond graphene with rich physical properties and unique layered structures are promising for applications in electronics, chemistry, energy, and bioscience, etc. The interaction mechanisms among the structures, chemical compositions and physical properties of 2D layered materials are critical for fundamental nanosciences and the practical fabrication of next-generation nanodevices. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), with its high spatial resolution and versatile external fields, is undoubtedly a powerful tool for the static characterization and dynamic manipulation of nanomaterials and nanodevices at the atomic scale...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

Research on cement-based materials is trying to exploit the synergies that nanomaterials can provide. This paper describes the findings reported in the last decade on the improvement of these materials regarding, on the one hand, their mechanical performance and, on the other hand, the new properties they provide. These features are mainly based on the electrical and chemical characteristics of nanomaterials, thus allowing cement-based elements to acquire "smart" functions. In this paper, we provide a quantitative approach to the reinforcements achieved to date...

Anodic porous alumina is a known material based on an old industry, yet with emerging applications in nanoscience and nanotechnology. This is promising, but the nanostructured alumina should be fabricated from inexpensive raw material. We fabricated porous alumina from commercial aluminum food plate in 0.4 M aqueous phosphoric acid, aiming to design an effective manufacturing protocol for the material used as nanoporous filler in dental restorative composites, an application demonstrated previously by our group...

In the past couple of decades, colloidal inorganic nanocrystals (NCs) and more specifically semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) have emerged as crucial materials for the development of nanoscience and nanotechnology, with applications in very diverse areas such as optoelectronics and biotechnology. Films made of inorganic NCs deposited on a substrate can be patterned by e-beam lithography, altering the structure of their capping ligands and thus allowing exposed areas to remain on the substrate while non-exposed areas are redispersed in a solvent, as in a standard lift-off process...

Nanofabrication techniques are essential for exploring nanoscience and many closely related research fields such as materials, electronics, optics and photonics. Recently, three-dimensional (3D) nanofabrication techniques have been actively investigated through many different ways, however, it is still challenging to make elaborate and complex 3D nanostructures that many researchers want to realize for further interesting physics studies and device applications. Electron beam lithography, one of the two-dimensional (2D) nanofabrication techniques, is also feasible to realize elaborate 3D nanostructures by stacking each 2D nanostructures...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

Future progress in nanoscience and nanotechnology necessitates further development of versatile, labor-, and cost-efficient surface patterning strategies. A new approach to nanopatterning is reported, which utilizes surface segregation of a smooth layer of an end-grafted homopolymer in a poor solvent. The variation in polymer grafting density yields a range of surface nanostructures, including randomly organized pinned spherical micelles, worm-like structures, networks, and porous films. The capability to use the polymer patterns for site-specific deposition of small molecules, polymers, or nanoparticles is shown...

Therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) is the clinical practice of measuring pharmaceutical drug concentrations in patients' biofluids at designated intervals to allow a close and timely control of their dosage. This practice allows for rapid medical intervention in case of toxicity-related issues and/or adjustment of dosage to better fit the therapeutic demand. Currently, TDM is performed in centralized laboratories employing instruments, such as immunoassay analyzers and mass spectrometers that can be run only by trained personnel...

Chemical sensing is one of the most important applications of nanoscience, whose ultimate aim is to seek higher sensitivity. In recent years, graphene with intriguing quantum properties has spurred dramatic advances ranging from materials science to optoelectronics and mechanics, showing its potential to realize individual molecule solid-state sensors. However, for optical sensing the single atom thickness of graphene greatly limits the light-graphene interactions, bottlenecking their performances. Here we demonstrate a novel approach based on the forward phase-matched Brillouin optomechanics in a graphene inner-deposited high Q (>2 × 10(6)) microfluidic resonator, expanding the "electron-photon" interaction in conventional graphene optical devices to the "electron-phonon-photon" process...

Structural diversity obtained through two-dimensional molecular self-assembly induced by the chain length effect has gained immense attention, not only because of its significance in crystal engineering but also for its potential application in nanoscience and nanotechnology. Three kinds of fluorenone derivative, named F-C7C7, F-C14C7, and F-C14C14, were synthesized and used for systematic exploration of their crystalline difference. At first, scanning electron microscopy and X-ray powder diffraction were performed to investigate their differences in morphology and three-dimensional crystal structure...

Sarah Webb explores nanoscience strategies for activating T cells in the fight against cancer.

The phase transition through local strain engineering is an exciting avenue for controlling electronic, magnetic properties and catalyst activity of materials but complex phenomenon in nanoscience. Herein, we demonstrate the first combinations of bending strain and 2H/1T phase transition by rolling up MoS2 sheets for improving catalytic activity in relatively inert basal plane surfaces and promoting electron transfer from the less-conducting 2H MoS2 sheets to the electrodes. Furthermore, we generate various MoS2@Pt nanoparticle hybrids nanomaterials and especially MoS2@Pt scrolls containing the coverage of Pt NPs (8...

The design of nanostructures with favored shape, particle size and structure is one of the most important fields of nanoscience. To reach this target hydrothermal method is one of the most applicable methods which allow us to obtain favored structures by changing some parameters. This review focuses on synthesis of some transition metal sulfides by hydrothermal method because of technological importance of this group of material. The common sulfides of Mn, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Ag and Cd are introduced and a mechanism proposed for their synthesis...

The quest for novel nanomaterials with unusual functionalities continues to be a central challenge to modern nanoscience. Here we report a surprisingly anomalous hardening behavior exhibited by a class of transition-metal monoborides (TMB). Most remarkable is the occurrence of the intrinsic hardness maximum at the valence-electron concentration (VEC) of about 8 electrons per formula unit (e per f.u.); both lower and higher VECs lead to the decrease of hardness, contrasting with the expected positive correlation between hardness and VEC...