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Researchers in Germany managed to integrate quantum dots (QD) into the walls of nano- and microtubes. This novel structure serves as a quantum light emitter as well as optical waveguide. This represents a major step toward the realization of flexible high quality factor optical resonators based on tubes.
Recent work on bioinspired nanoscale colloidal systems is an example of the significant interest that the design and fabrication of nanostructured colloidal materials has created among scientists.
Polymeric hollow nanospheres with high stability and controllable permeability have interesting potential applications associated with the controlled release of encapsulated active ingredients (e.g., drugs, vaccines, antibodies, hormones, pesticides, and fragrances) under well-defined conditions. Researchers in Singapore are now fabricating hollow nanostructures with different shapes using a single template.
A group of Chinese researchers prepared dye-sensitized solar cells using micro/nanocomposite TiO2 porous films, resulting in cells with enhanced light collection. They applied a technique which can produce a large area in continuous fabrication. This technique opens an alternative way for manufacturing solar cells on an industrial scale.
Researchers in Finland and The Netherlands demonstrated that it is possible to grow and wire a single platinum nanoparticle using a single-walled carbon nanotube, thus providing a bottom-up approach to building nanoelectrodes.
Researchers in Switzerland succeeded in the large-scale production of carbon-coated copper nanoparticles. These carbon/copper nanocomposites could be used as novel, low-cost sensor materials and offer a metal-based alternative to the currently used brittle oxidic spinels or perovskites.
Carbon nanotubes ((CNTs) are five times less dense than steel and approximately 30 times stronger. Their mechanical properties make them ideal candidates for the mechanical reinforcement of polymers.
Greatly expanding on previously reported work on platinum nanostructures, researchers at Sandia National Laboratories just released a new paper describing a range of novel platinum nanostructures with potential applications in fuel and solar cells as well as nanotags in biomedicine.