May 2011 Volume 10, Issue 5

Editorial

A coup for coupling p333
doi:10.1038/nmat3021
The 2010 Nobel Prize for Chemistry rewards a family of techniques for forging carbon-carbon bonds that have already helped to create new organic materials.
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Commentary

A smooth future? pp334 - 337
Lydéric Bocquet and Eric Lauga
doi:10.1038/nmat2994
Research on superhydrophobic materials has mostly focused on their extreme non-wettability. However, the implications of superhydrophobicity beyond wetting, in particular for transport phenomena, remain largely unexplored.
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Research Highlights

Our choice from the recent literature p338
doi:10.1038/nmat3022
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News and Views

Letters

A spin-valve-like magnetoresistance of an antiferromagnet-based tunnel junction pp347 - 351
B. G. Park, J. Wunderlich, X. Martí, V. Holý, Y. Kurosaki, M. Yamada, H. Yamamoto, A. Nishide, J. Hayakawa, H. Takahashi, A. B. Shick and T. Jungwirth
doi:10.1038/nmat2983
Spin-valve structures used in modern hard-drive read heads and magnetic random access memories comprise two ferromagnetic electrodes. It is now shown that antiferromagnets can be used as electrodes in spin valves. The results open a wide range of new possibilities for the choice of materials for spintronics devices.
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF
See also: News and Views by Duine

Infrared-spectroscopic nanoimaging with a thermal source pp352 - 356
F. Huth, M. Schnell, J. Wittborn, N. Ocelic and R. Hillenbrand
doi:10.1038/nmat3006
Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy is a widely used spectroscopic technique, particularly for infrared wavelengths. However, for imaging applications the spatial resolution of FTIR spectrometers is restricted by the diffraction limit. The use of an FTIR spectrometer to pick up the low signal from scanning near-field optical microscopy employing thermal radiation now enables infrared imaging with nanoscale resolution.
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF

Bottom-gated epitaxial graphene pp357 - 360
Daniel Waldmann, Johannes Jobst, Florian Speck, Thomas Seyller, Michael Krieger and Heiko B. Weber
doi:10.1038/nmat2988
Bottom gates in epitaxial graphene structures can now be fabricated through a technique based on nitrogen implantation. This is an important achievement to increase both the versatility of the material for fundamental studies and the potential for its use in devices.
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Localized surface plasmon resonances arising from free carriers in doped quantum dots pp361 - 366
Joseph M. Luther, Prashant K. Jain, Trevor Ewers and A. Paul Alivisatos
doi:10.1038/nmat3004
Plasmonic resonances are often associated with metals, but can also be realized in semiconductors. The observation of plasmon resonances at near-infrared wavelengths in semiconductor quantum dots in particular, offers the possibility to actively control plasmonic properties through quantum-size effects within the dots.
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Controlled drop emission by wetting properties in driven liquid filaments pp367 - 371
R. Ledesma-Aguilar, R. Nistal, A. Hernández-Machado and I. Pagonabarraga
doi:10.1038/nmat2998
The controlled formation of micrometre-size drops is of importance for many technological applications such as microfluidics. A wetting-based destabilization mechanism of forced microfilaments on either hydrophilic or hydrophobic stripes leading to the periodic emission of droplets can now be used to control independently the drop size and emission period.
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF

Polymer nanosieve membranes for CO₂-capture applications pp372 - 375
Naiying Du, Ho Bum Park, Gilles P. Robertson, Mauro M. Dal-Cin, Tymen Visser, Ludmila Scoles and Michael D. Guiver
doi:10.1038/nmat2989
Microporous organic polymers (MOPs) are technologically important for low-dielectric materials, gas separation and gas-storage applications. A class of amorphous MOPs prepared by cycloaddition modification is shown to exhibit outstanding CO₂ separation performance and super-permeable characteristics
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Articles

Rotation-reversal symmetries in crystals and handed structures pp376 - 381
Venkatraman Gopalan and Daniel B. Litvin
doi:10.1038/nmat2987
The symmetries of crystals are an important factor in the understanding of their properties. The discovery of a new symmetry type, rotation-reversal symmetry, may lead to the discovery of new rotation-based phenomena, for example in multiferroic materials.
Abstract | Full Text | PDF
See also: News and Views by Fiebig

Low-temperature fabrication of high-performance metal oxide thin-film electronics via combustion processing pp382 - 388
Myung-Gil Kim, Mercouri G. Kanatzidis, Antonio Facchetti and Tobin J. Marks
doi:10.1038/nmat3011
Solution-deposited metal oxides show great potential for large-area electronics, but they generally require high annealing temperatures, which are incompatible with flexible polymeric substrates. Combustion processing is now reported as a new low-temperature route for the deposition of diverse metal oxide films, and high-performance transistors are demonstrated using this method.
Abstract | Full Text | PDF
See also: News and Views by Hardy & Van Bael

The targeted delivery of multicomponent cargos to cancer cells by nanoporous particle-supported lipid bilayers pp389 - 397
Carlee E. Ashley, Eric C. Carnes, Genevieve K. Phillips, David Padilla, Paul N. Durfee, Page A. Brown, Tracey N. Hanna, Juewen Liu, Brandy Phillips, Mark B. Carter, Nick J. Carroll, Xingmao Jiang, Darren R. Dunphy, Cheryl L. Willman, Dimiter N. Petsev, Deborah G. Evans, Atul N. Parikh, Bryce Chackerian, Walker Wharton, David S. Peabody and C. Jeffrey Brinker
doi:10.1038/nmat2992
A nanocarrier—synthesized by the fusion of liposomes to spherical, nanoporous silica particles and subsequent modification of the lipid bilayer with targeting peptides and fusogenic peptides—shows the targeted delivery and controlled release of chemically diverse multicomponent cargos within the cytosol of certain cancer cells.
Abstract | Full Text | PDF
See also: News and Views by Irvine

Nanofibrous hollow microspheres self-assembled from star-shaped polymers as injectable cell carriers for knee repair pp398 - 406
Xiaohua Liu, Xiaobing Jin and Peter X. Ma
doi:10.1038/nmat2999
Nanofibrous hollow microspheres, formed by the self-assembly of star-shaped biodegradable polymers, are shown to be effective injectable cell carriers for cartilage repair. The microspheres accommodate cells and enhance cartilage regeneration in vivo with respect to various control groups, in particular, indicating smooth integration between the regenerated and host tissue.
Abstract | Full Text | PDF