A conversation with Prof. Chad Mirkin: nanomaterials architect

Nanomedicine 2.0

Nanotechnology can profoundly change the way we diagnose and treat diseases, but the ability to control how engineered nanoparticles behave within the body remains largely elusive. This Commentary describes the progress and limitations of nanomedicine and the research and experimental philosophies that should be considered in our quest to advance nanotechnology to the clinic.

Nanotechnology Education for the Global World: Training the Leaders of Tomorrow

Nanoscience is one of the fastest growing and most impactful fields in global scientific research. In order to support the continued development of nanoscience and nanotechnology, it is important that nanoscience education be a top priority to accelerate research excellence. In this Nano Focus, we discuss current approaches to nanoscience training and propose a learning design framework to promote the next generation of nanoscientists. Prominent among these are the abilities to communicate and to work across and between conventional disciplines. While the United States has played leading roles in initiating these developments, the global landscape of nanoscience calls for worldwide attention to this educational need. Recent developments in emerging nanoscience nations are also discussed. Photo credit: Jae Hyeon Park.

Practical synthesis of water-soluble organic nanoparticles with a single reactive group and a functional carrier scaffold

A practical synthesis of biocompatible organic nanoparticles with a reactive group and a functional carrier scaffold was developed.

Molecular dynamics study of naturally occurring defects in self-assembled monolayer formation

One of the major challenges for nanofabrication, in particular microcontact printing (mu-CP), is the control of molecular diffusion, or "ink spreading", for the creation of nanopatterns with minimized "smudging" at pattern boundaries. In this study, fully atomistic computer simulations were used to measure the impact of naturally occurring domain boundaries on the diffusion of excess alkanethiol ink molecules on printed alkanethiol self-assembled monolayers (SAM). A periodic unit cell containing approximately one million atoms and with a surface area of 56 nm x 55 nm was used to model a hexadecanethiol SAM on Au(111), featuring SAM domain boundaries and a range of concentrations of excess hexadecanethiol ink molecules diffusing on top. This model was simulated for a total of approximately 80 ns of molecular dynamics. The simulations reveal that domain boundaries impede the diffusion of excess ink molecules and can, in some cases, permanently trap excess inks. There is competition between ink spreading and ink trapping, with the ink/SAM interaction strongly dependent on both the ink concentration and the SAM orientation at domain boundaries. SAM defects thus provide potential diffusion barriers for the control of excess ink spreading, and simulations also illustrate atom-scale mechanisms for the repair of damaged areas of the SAM via self-healing. The ability of domain boundaries to trap excess ink molecules is accounted for using an accessible volume argument, and trapping is discussed in relation to experimental efforts to reduce molecular spreading on SAMs for the creation of ultrahigh resolution nanopatterns.

The big picture

Big-picture views of nanostructures and their interactions with the surrounding world will be critical if we are going to scale up production to make nanostructures and nanosystems as ubiquitous as many of us anticipate.