Themed collection U.S National Nanotechnology Day 2023

When plasmonic metal nanoparticles become smaller and smaller, a new class of nanomaterials—metal nanoclusters of atomic precision—comes to light, and recently shape control at the atomic level for new functionality has become an attractive topic.

Transition-metal chalcogenide nanostructures provide a unique material platform to engineer next-generation energy storage devices such as lithium-ion, sodium-ion, and potassium-ion batteries and flexible supercapacitors.

The pioneering work of Thomas Russell and colleagues helped establish neutron reflectometry as a valuable and often indispensable probe of the nanoscale structure of polymer thin film systems.

This review enhances a fundamental understanding of the degradation mechanisms of Ni-based layered cathodes under fast-charging conditions from atomic to electrode scales. Design strategies for enhancing fast-charging performance are also suggested.

We provided an overview of recent advances in 2D-material-based wearable chemical sensors for healthcare applications. We also explored the challenges and opportunities associated with designing and implementing 2D wearable chemical sensors.

Co-assembly of two different motifs provides a way to increase the structural complexity of DNA nanostructures.

Hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) nanosheets are grown at room temperature by pulsed laser deposition that exhibits remarkable functional properties, creating a scenario for “h-BN on demand” under a frugal thermal budget, essential for nanotechnology.

Hardware Trojans (HTs) have emerged as a major security threat for integrated circuits (ICs) owing to the involvement of untrustworthy actors in the globally distributed semiconductor supply chain.

A cascade nanozyme with glucose oxidase and haloperoxidase activities was designed and synthesized, which was shown to generate antiseptic HOBr from a ubiquitous non-ROS, O₂. It successfully inhibited growth of a bacterial pathogen and its biofilm.

Melanin–TiO₂ nanostructured molecular junctions with enhanced photochemical dynamics for optoelectronic and bioelectronic applications.

We demonstrate that the phenomena of enzyme enhancement by nanoparticle display can be expanded to enzymatic cofactor recycling along with the coupled enzymatic processes that they participate in.

Vertical heterojunctions based on 3D wide band-gap semiconductor, β-phase Ga₂O₃ and 2D layered semiconductors are demonstrated. Effects of 2D semiconductor, contact metals and β-Ga₂O₃ crystalline orientation on junction performance are investigated.

This study demonstrated the successful epitaxy of La-SrSnO₃/BaTiO₃ on SrTiO₃-buffered Si (001) with ALD-deposited La-SrSnO₃ and explored the optimization of post-annealing to enhance the capacitance properties of heterostructure.

Top: Schematic of DNA-caged nanoparticle composite formation. Bottom: U87 cells labeled with fluorescent DNA-caged nanoparticles before and after erasing with single stranded DNA. Scale bar = 10 μm.

High entropy oxide nanoparticles (HEO NPs) with multiple component elements possess improved stability and multiple uses for functional applications, including catalysis, data memory, and energy storage.

Bi₂Te₃ nanoplates were synthesized to develop a water-based nanomaterial ink for a gravity-independent method of additive manufacturing. By optimization of the plasma-jet printer, deposited N-type thermoelectric legs showed significant flexibility.

Plasmonic silver-coated nanorods were demonstrated to enter plant cells using a multimodal imaging approach. Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering spectra from dye-coated nanorods were acquired in vivo from whole plant leaves treated with nanorods.

Lead halide perovskite nanocrystals possess incredible potential as next generation emitters due to their stellar set of optoelectronic properties.

We use synthesis, electrochemistry, and DFT calculations to show the presence or absence of Cl⁻ modulates binding of PVP to (100) facets, leading to the formation of nanocubes with Cl⁻, or truncated octahedra without it.

Three-dimensional ring electrode arrays can provide means for highly-parallelized nanoparticle-impact electrochemistry within bulk solution.

Picosecond laser excitation of vascular-targeted gold nanoparticles activates multiple mechanobiological pathways in the endothelial cells and induces reversible blood–brain barrier opening.

We report an insulator-to-metal phase transition in a few-layer MoSe₂ field-effect transistor. The conductivity (shown in figure) becomes metallic at a critical carrier density of 1.2 x 10¹² cm^-2 and is analyzed using percolation theory.