Nanoscale

doi: 10.1039/c6nr90034hpmid: N/A

doi: 10.1039/C6NR90034Hpmid: N/A

doi: 10.1039/c6nr90035fpmid: N/A

doi: 10.1039/C6NR90035Fpmid: N/A

doi: 10.1039/c6nr90036dpmid: N/A

doi: 10.1039/C6NR90036Dpmid: N/A

Pant, Anupum; Mutlu, Zafer; Wickramaratne, Darshana; Cai, Hui; Lake, Roger K.; Ozkan, Cengiz; Tongay, Sefaattin

doi: 10.1039/c5nr08982dpmid: 26831401

At the turn of this century, Herbert Kroemer, the 2000 Nobel Prize winner in Physics, famously commented that “the interface is the device”. This statement has since opened up unparalleled opportunities at the interface of conventional three-dimensional (3D) materials (H. Kroemer, Quasi-Electric and Quasi-Magnetic Fields in Non-Uniform Semiconductors, RCA Rev., 1957, 18, 332–342). More than a decade later, Sir Andre Geim and Irina Grigorieva presented their views on 2D heterojunctions which further cultivated broad interests in the 2D materials field. Currently, advances in two-dimensional (2D) materials enable us to deposit layered materials that are only one or few unit-cells in thickness to construct sharp in-plane and out-of-plane interfaces between dissimilar materials, and to be able to fabricate novel devices using these cutting-edge techniques. The interface alone, which traditionally dominated overall device performance, thus has now become the device itself. Fueled by recent progress in atomically thin materials, we are now at the ultimate limit of interface physics, which brings to us new and exciting opportunities, with equally demanding challenges. This paper endeavors to provide stalwarts and newcomers a perspective on recent advances in synthesis, fundamentals, applications, and future prospects of a large variety of heterojunctions of atomically thin materials.

Subramaniam, Chandramouli; Sekiguchi, Atsuko; Yamada, Takeo; Futaba, Don N.; Hata, Kenji

doi: 10.1039/c5nr03762jpmid: 26486752

New lithographically processable materials with high ampacity are in demand to meet the increasing requirement for high operational current density at high temperatures existing in current pathways within electronic devices. To meet this demand, we report an approach to fabricate a high ampacity (∼100 times higher than Cu) carbon nanotube–copper (CNT–Cu) composite into a variety of complex nano-scale, planar and multi-tiered current pathways. The approach involved the use of a two-stage electrodeposition of copper into a pre-patterned template of porous, thin CNT sheets acting as the electrode. The versatility of this approach enabled the realization of completely suspended multi-tier, dielectric-less ‘air-gap’ CNT–Cu circuits that could be electrically isolated from each other and are challenging to fabricate with pure Cu or any metal. Importantly, all such complex structures, ranging from 500 nm to 20 μm in width, exhibited ∼100-times higher ampacity than any known metal, with comparable electrical conductivity as Cu. In addition, CNT–Cu structures also exhibited a superior temperature stability compared to the ∼10-times wider Cu counterparts. We believe that the combination of our approach and the properties demonstrated here are vital achievements for the future development of efficient and powerful electrical devices.

Deng, Yaoyao; Li, Erdong; Cheng, Xiaju; Zhu, Jing; Lu, Shuanglong; Ge, Cuicui; Gu, Hongwei; Pan, Yue

doi: 10.1039/c5nr09102kpmid: 26818657

The hybrid platinum@iron oxide core–shell nanorods with high biocompatibility were synthesized and applied for combined therapy. These hybrid nanorods exhibit a good photothermal effect on cancer cells upon irradiation with a NIR laser. Furthermore, due to the presence of a high atomic number element (platinum core), the hybrid nanorods show a synergistic effect between photothermal and radiation therapy. Therefore, the as-prepared core–shell nanorods could play an important role in facilitating synergistic therapy between photothermal and radiation therapy to achieve better therapeutic efficacy.

Zu, Shuai; Bao, Yanjun; Fang, Zheyu

doi: 10.1039/c5nr09302cpmid: 26818746

A strong chiral optical response induced at a plasmonic Fano resonance in a planar Au heptamer nanostructure was experimentally and theoretically demonstrated. The scattering spectra show the characteristic narrow-band feature of Fano resonances for both left and right circular polarized lights, with a chiral response reaching 30% at the Fano resonance. Specifically, we systematically investigate the chiral response of planar heptamers with gradually changing the inter-particle rotation angles and separation distance. The chiral spectral characteristics clearly depend on the strength of Fano resonances and the associated near-field optical distributions. Finite element method simulations together with a multipole expansion method demonstrate that the enhanced chirality is caused by the excitation of magnetic quadrupolar and electric toroidal dipolar modes. Our work provides an effective method for the design of 2D nanostructures with a strong chiral response.