Nanoscience and nanotechnology

This is the third print issue in the PCCP series of themed issues highlighting cutting edge research in nanoscience and nanotechnology. For the previous themed issues and related Editorials see issue 28, pp. 3261–3360, and issue 30, pp. 3477–3575.

In common with the previous themed issues, the papers presented here show the highly multidisciplinary nature of current nanoscience research. PCCP, a truly international journal with a history of publishing the latest and most exciting multidisciplinary research, is therefore the obvious place to publish such a series of themed special issues.

To ease browsing, we have collected every article in this issue, along with all of the other nanoscience themed issue papers, on a single webpage —http://www.rsc.org/pccpnano. 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.

Like ‘regular’ issues of PCCP, this third 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. In the Invited Article in this issue, Huck et al. (DOI: 10.1039/b606415a) give an overview of a number of polymer brush systems, demonstrating their exciting potential application for surfaces with controlled wettability, smart surfaces and nanoactuators, as well as their ability to provide a versatile platform for biological studies.

In their urgent Communication, Sonnichsen et al. (DOI: 10.1039/b604666e) present a continuous flow synthesis of broad applicability. The new approach allows the tailored design of particles with desired shapes and online monitoring of particle growth.

The regular research papers in this issue further highlight the multidisciplinary nature of nanoscience research. Vanmaekelbergh et al. (DOI: 10.1039/b605436f) explore the conditions under which scanning tunnelling microscopy and spectroscopy can be used to measure the electronic properties of quantum dots, whilst in their bionanotechnology study, Urisu et al. (DOI: 10.1039/b606052h) investigate the formation kinetics of artificial cell membranes.

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 would once again like to thank Guest Editors Phil Bartlett, Tim Jones and Paul Mulvaney for their invaluable assistance in organising these themed issues.

Philip Earis

Deputy Editor, PCCP

Susan Weatherby

Editor, PCCP

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