Small

doi: 10.1002/smll.201570176pmid: N/A

Slocik, Joseph M.; Drummy, Lawrence F.; Dickerson, Matthew B.; Crouse, Christopher A.; Spowart, Jonathan E.; Naik, Rajesh R.

doi: 10.1002/smll.201570170pmid: N/A

R. R. Naik and co‐workers create highly energetic, bioinspired nanomaterial composites using synthetic hemozoin crystals. Hemozin forms naturally in vivo by the Plasmodium falciparum parasite, the causative agent of malaria. On page 3539, synthetic hemozoin is employed as an oxidizing material for aluminium nanoparticles (nAl). Hemozoin rapidly oxidizes peptide‐functionalized nAl fuel (spherical particles), releasing energy. These bioinspired composites rival conventional man‐made oxidizing materials by offering higher activity, lower cost, ease of handling, and increased stability.

Wang, Yi; Meng, Ying; Wang, Shanshan; Li, Chengyi; Shi, Wei; Chen, Jian; Wang, Jianxin; Huang, Rongqin

doi: 10.1002/smll.201570171pmid: N/A

Polymer‐coated, nitrogen‐doped, carbon nanodots (pN‐CNDs), shown as green/blue particles in the image, are produced by R. Q. Huang and co‐workers via a one‐step direct solvothermal reaction of 1‐methyl‐2‐pyrrolidinone. On page 3575, the pN‐CNDs are shown to expediently enter glioma via blood vessels and mediate glioma fluorescence imaging in vivo with good contrast, via enhanced passive targeting.

doi: 10.1002/smll.201570172pmid: N/A

Werner, Michael; Palankar, Raghavendra; Arm, Loïc; Hovius, Ruud; Vogel, Horst

doi: 10.1002/smll.201501535pmid: 26234777

Du, Baoji; Tian, Li; Gu, Xiaoxiao; Li, Dan; Wang, Erkang; Wang, Jin

doi: 10.1002/smll.201501536pmid: 26234778

Nguyen, Van Luan; Lee, Young Hee

doi: 10.1002/smll.201500147pmid: 25903119

Since its discovery in 2004, graphene has boosted numerous fundamental sciences and technological applications due to its massless Dirac particle‐like linear band dispersion, that causes unprecedented physical properties. Among the various methods for synthesizing graphene, chemical vapor deposition is the most suitable approach for scalable production on a wafer scale, which is a critical step for practical applications. Graphene grain boundaries (GGBs), consisting of nonhexagonal carbon rings and therefore modulating the properties of graphene films, are inevitably formed via the merging of adjacent graphene domains with different orientations. Large‐area monocrystalline graphene synthesis without forming GGBs has been challenging, let alone observing such boundaries. Here, an up‐to‐date review is presented of how to grow wafer‐scale monocrystalline graphene without GGBs. One approach is to make single domain sizes as large as possible by reducing or passivating the number of nucleation sites. Another approach is to align graphene domains in identical orientations, and then merge them atomically. The recently developed methods for observing graphene orientation and GGBs both at the atomic and macro‐scales are also presented. Finally, perspectives for future research in graphene growth are discussed.

Shao, Mingfei; Li, Zhenhua; Zhang, Ruikang; Ning, Fanyu; Wei, Min; Evans, David G.; Duan, Xue

doi: 10.1002/smll.201570173pmid: N/A

M. Wei and co‐workers report the design and fabrication of a new electrode material with a core‐shell nanostructure in which a conducting polymer (polypyrrole, PPy) core and CoNi‐layered double hydroxide (CoNi‐LDH) shell exhibit a significant synergetic effect in supercapacitor performances. On page 3530, the obtained PPy@LDH‐based, flexible, all‐solid‐state supercapacitor is shown to meet the requirements of both high energy/power output and long‐term endurance, which can be potentially used in highly efficient and stable energy storage devices.

Shao, Mingfei; Li, Zhenhua; Zhang, Ruikang; Ning, Fanyu; Wei, Min; Evans, David G.; Duan, Xue

doi: 10.1002/smll.201403421pmid: 25788400

A sophisticated hierarchical nanoarray consisting of a conducting polymer (polypyrrole, PPy) core and layered double hydroxide (LDH) shell are synthesized via a facile two‐step electrosynthesis method. The obtained PPy@LDH‐based flexible all‐solid‐state supercapacitor meets the requirements of both high energy/power output and long‐term endurance, which can be potentially used in highly‐efficient and stable energy storage.

Slocik, Joseph M.; Drummy, Lawrence F.; Dickerson, Matthew B.; Crouse, Christopher A.; Spowart, Jonathan E.; Naik, Rajesh R.

doi: 10.1002/smll.201403659pmid: 25940859

Synthetic hemozoin crystals (β‐hematin) are assembled with aluminium nanoparticles (nAl) to create a nanomaterial composite that is highly energetic and reactive. The results here demonstrate that hemozoin rapidly oxidizes the nAl fuel to release large amounts of energy (+12.5 ± 2.4 kJ g−1).