(Funded by the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation)
Engineers at the University of Virginia have created a drug nanocarrier designed to cure chronic or deadly respiratory diseases by slipping past the lungs’ natural defenses. The engineers successfully demonstrated the nanocarrier’s effectiveness using a device that captures the geometric and biological features of human airways. “We think this innovation not only promises better treatments of lung diseases with reduced side effects, but also opens possibilities for treating conditions affecting mucosal surfaces throughout the body,” said Liheng Cai, one of the engineers involved in this study.

(Funded by the National Science Foundation)
Researchers from the University of Michigan and Indiana University have shown that by combining an electron microscope, a small sample holder with microscopic channels, and computer simulations, it is possible to see how nanoscale building blocks can rearrange into different organized structures. In the study, the researchers suspended nanoparticles in tiny channels of liquid on a microfluidic flow cell. The researchers learned that the instrument gave the nanoparticles – which normally are attracted to each other – just enough electrostatic repulsion to push them apart and allow them to assemble into ordered arrangements.

(Funded by the National Science Foundation)
University of California, Irvine scientists have discovered a one-dimensional nanoscale material whose color changes as temperature changes. “We found that we can make really small and sensitive thermometers,” said Maxx Arguilla, one of the scientists involved in this study. Arguilla likened the thermometers to “nano-scale mood rings,” referring to the jewelry that changes color depending on the wearer’s body temperature. But instead of simply taking a qualitative temperature reading, the changes in the color of these materials “can be calibrated and used to optically take temperature readings at the nanoscale,” Arguilla said.

(Funded by the U.S. Department of Defense, the U.S. Department of Energy, and the National Science Foundation)
Physicists from Purdue University, Washington University in St. Louis, and the U.S. Department of Energy’s Sandia National Laboratories have levitated a fluorescent nanodiamond and spun it at incredibly high speeds (up to 1.2 billion times per minute). The fluorescent diamond emitted and scattered multicolor lights in different directions as it rotated. When illuminated by a green laser, the nanodiamond emitted red light, which was used to read out its electron spin states. An additional infrared laser was shone at the levitated nanodiamond to monitor its rotation. Like a disco ball, as the nanodiamond rotated, the direction of the scattered infrared light changed, carrying the rotation information of the nanodiamond.

(Funded by the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Energy)
Researchers from Florida State University, the University of California Santa Barbara, Tsinghua University in China, Leipzig University in Germany, and Stuttgart University in Germany have identified, for the first time, the existence of local collective excitations of #electrons, called #plasmons, in a #Kagome metal – a class of materials whose atomic structure follows a hexagonal pattern that looks like a traditional Japanese basket weave – and found that the wavelength of those plasmons depends upon the thickness of the metal. The researchers also found that changing the frequency of a #laser shining at the metal caused the plasmons to spread through the material rather than staying confined to the surface. “[O]ur research reveals how electron interactions can create these unique waves at the nanoscale,” said Guangxin Ni, the scientist who led this study. “This breakthrough is key for advancing technologies in nano-optics and nano-photonics.”