Engineered nanowrappers carry and release tiny cargo

Scientists have discovered a new method for creating hollow metallic nanostructures with regularly spaced and sized pores. They used advanced electron tomography to collect three-dimensional images at different stages of synthesis. The images allowed the scientists to track the transition from gold nanocubes, with sharp corners, to gold-silver alloy nanowrappers, with pores at their corners. The pores are large and regular enough to hold drug-carrying nanoparticles.