Nanoscience and nanotechnology

A series of themed issues

This is the second print issue in the PCCP series of themed issues on nanoscience and nanotechnology. In recent years nanoscience has shown itself to be one of the most exciting areas in science, with experimental developments being driven by pressing demands for new technological applications. It is a highly multidisciplinary research field and the experimental and theoretical challenges for researchers in the physical sciences are substantial. PCCP, an international journal with a history of publishing cutting edge multidisciplinary research, is therefore the obvious place to publish a series of themed special issues highlighting the latest nanoscience and technology research.

The papers in this issue, along with all of the other themed issue papers are collected together on a single webpage—http://www.rsc.org/pccpnano—for ease of browsing. New papers are being added to this page as soon as they are published online as Advance Articles. Please do take the time to visit the webpage and read some of the exciting research. Further of the print nanoscience themed issues will be printed over the coming weeks. For the first themed issue and related Editorial see issue 28, pp. 3261–3360.

Like ‘regular’ issues of PCCP, this second nanoscience and nanotechnology issue contains a variety of article types: urgent Communications, full Research Papers, and Invited Articles, which give an authoritative state-of-the-art account of the selected research field. There are two Invited Articles: Orrit et al. (DOI: 10.1039/b606090k) present a review of recently developed detection techniques and their potential for nanoscience and for single-molecule labelling in biological assays and live cells, whilst Shchukin and Möhwald (DOI: 10.1039/b606104d) demonstrate the potential of sonochemistry to become a valuable tool for nanotechnology. In their urgent Communication, Williams et al. (DOI: 10.1039/b605399h) use magnetic fields to fashion permanently aligned microtubule arrays allowing formation of highly ordered platforms for assembly, separation, and single molecule motor studies. The regular research papers in this issue further highlight the multidisciplinary nature of nanoscience research.

We hope you enjoy the range of papers and contributions from the international groups who have made the effort to be part of this series of special nanoscience and nanotechnology editions of PCCP.

The PCCP Editorial Board and Staff thank Guest Editors Phil Bartlett, Tim Jones and Paul Mulvaney for their assistance in organising the issues.

Susan Weatherby

  Editor, PCCP

Philip Earis

  Deputy Editor, PCCP

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