Themed collection Nanoscale Horizons Most Popular 2020 Articles

This review highlights recent advances of MXenes and their composites in the environment-related applications including catalysis, water purification and sensors.

Evolution of heterogeneous catalysts with steady down-sizing: from small particles, clusters, dots to single atoms, and now the “surface heterocompound”.

This review summarizes the development of PCN, i.e., synthesis, morphology, modification, and application in recent years. This review can provide a comprehensive view of PCN and lay a foundation for the design of ideal photocatalysts in the future.

Iron-based artificial enzyme nanomimics show promise for biocatalytic tumor therapy.

This review summarized recent advances in CDs-based bioimaging including in vitro imaging in delivering CDs into different types of cells and in vivo applications in distribution and uptake of CDs, imaging-guild drug delivery and tumor therapeutics.

This review presents recent advances and continuing challenges in the design, characterization, and modelling of dynamic DNA nanodevices.

Evidence for a magnetic transition in atomically thin chromium titanium carbide MXene (Cr₂TiC₂T_x) has been shown experimentally using a combination of magnetometry, spectroscopy, and magnetotransport measurements.

Directional interlayer charge transfer in TMD heterostructure probed by time- and polarization-resolved second-harmonic imaging microscopy.

A system of amorphous gallium phosphide nanopatches is shown to be a flexible, cheap and efficient platform for ultrafast and nonlinear nanophotonics.

Single-layer AgF₂ is investigated as a multiferroic material with ferroelasticity and magnetism. A strain-driven 120° variant switching is achieved in AgF₂ monolayer.

Lowering the LUMO levels of an anodic COF through the incorporation of N-rich modules favors electron accumulation on it, which sets up an electronic drive for the Na⁺ ions to enter the anode from the electrolyte. The optimal framework⋯Na⁺ interactions delivers excellent rate-performance.

Multifunctional carbon nanodots with deep-red emission were prepared. These carbon nanodots are suitable for targeted intracellular production of reactive oxygen species by laser irradiation leading to efficient cancer cell death.

MBenes hold many merits for electrocatalysis of the nitrogen reduction reaction, including outstanding stability in aqueous environments, excellent electrical conductivity, an inhibited hydrogen evolution reaction, and highly active boron and metal surfaces.

Immiscible solvent treatment induced oriented attachment of perovskite nanocrystal, resulting in change of size and dimensionality (0D/1D/2D).

Gas-MacEtch of Si with a Pt catalyst allows vertical etching nanostructures with an extreme aspect ratio up to 10 000 : 1.

A selective and efficient electrocatalyst composed of MnO and Mn–N_x co-doped carbon nanostructures is developed for electrochemical hydrogen peroxide generation.

For increasing the bit-density in the conventional binary logic system, various efforts have been made toward implementing single devices with two threshold voltage (V_TH) via the negative differential resistance (NDR) phenomenon.

The newly established Zn anode-based aqueous electrochromic device enables dynamic transparency control and electrical energy storage in a single platform.

Mixed-dimension van der Waals (vdW) p–n heterojunction photodiodes have inspired worldwide efforts to combine the excellent properties of 2D materials and traditional semiconductors without consideration of lattice mismatch.

Lead-free Bi-based perovskite FA₃Bi₂X₉ (X = Cl, Br, and I) quantum dots (QDs) are synthesized for the first time at room temperature. The ligand-passivated FA₃Bi₂Br₉ QDs exhibit blue emission at 437 nm with photoluminescence quantum yield (PLQY) up to 52%.