Volume 1, Issue 1

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The magnetic properties of matter continue to be a vibrant research area driven both by scientific curiosity to unravel the basic physical processes which govern magnetism and the vast and diverse utilization of magnetic materials in current and future devices, e.g., in information and sensor technologies. Relevant length and time scales approach fundamental limits of magnetism and with state-of-the-art synthesis approaches we are able to create and tailor unprecedented properties. Novel analytical tools are required to match these advances and soft X-ray probes are among the most promising ones. Strong and element-specific magnetic X-ray dichroism effects as well as the nanometer wavelength of photons and the availability of fsec short and intense X-ray pulses at upcoming X-ray sources enable unique experimental opportunities for the study of magnetic behavior. This article provides an overview of recent achievements and future perspectives in magnetic soft X-ray spectromicroscopies which permit us to gain spatially resolved insight into the ultrafast spin dynamics and the magnetic properties of buried interfaces of advanced magnetic nanostructures.

The increasing importance of nanotechnology in the field of biomedical applications has encouraged the development of new nanomaterials endowed with multiple functions. Novel nanoscale drug delivery systems with diagnostic, imaging and therapeutic properties hold many promises for the treatment of different types of diseases, including cancer, infection and neurodegenerative syndromes. Functionalized carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are one of the most recent type of nanomaterial developed in biomedicine as they can be designed and imparted with multimodal capabilities. Indeed, the possibility of inserting different functionalities on CNTs is opening the possibility to exploit them on new strategies that combine diagnosis with improved therapeutic efficacies. In this review, we describe the different approaches that have been recently developed to generate multifunctionalized CNTs for biomedical applications. In particular, covalent and non-covalent double and triple functionalization methods are discussed, putting in evidence their use in vitro and in vivo and highlighting the advantages and the drawbacks of these new systems. Preclinical studies have demonstrated that multifunctional CNTs are highly promising when combining diagnostic, imaging and therapeutic modalities.

This review article focuses on the impacts of recent advances in solution phase precious metal nanoparticles on heterogeneous catalysis. Conventional nanometal catalysts suffer from size polydispersity. The advent of nanotechnology has significantly advanced the techniques for preparing uniform nanoparticles, especially in solution phase synthesis of precious metal nanoparticles with excellent control over size, shape, composition and morphology, which have opened up new opportunities for catalysis. This review summarizes some recent catalytic research by using well-defined nanoparticles, including shape-controlled nanoparticles, high index-faceted polyhedral nanocrystals, nanostructures of different morphology (e.g., core-shell, hollow, etc.), bi- and multi-metallic nanoparticles, as well as atomically precise nanoclusters. Such well-defined nanocatalysts provide many exciting opportunities, such as identifying the types of active surface atoms (e.g., corner and edge atoms) in catalysis, the effect of surface facets on catalytic performance, and obtaining insight into the effects of size-induced electron energy quantization in ultra-small metal nanoparticles on catalysis. With well-defined metal nanocatalysts, many fundamentally important issues are expected to be understood much deeper in future research, such as the nature of the catalytic active sites, the metal-support interactions, the effect of surface atom arrangement, and the atomic origins of the structure-activity and the structure-selectivity relationships.

Facile chemical synthesis and understanding of the formation mechanism of silver nanoparticles, ordered on the microscale on one-dimensional (1D), 2D or in 3D structures of complex forms is challenging for advanced applications, in electronics, optoelectronics, and medicine, to mention a few. Significant results obtained in the comprehension of assembling mechanisms in solutions of silver nanoparticles in 1D, 2D, and 3D organic-inorganic mesostructures are surveyed together with details on their preparation and characterization. Emphasis will be placed on very recent results obtained in our laboratories on self-assembly of silver nanoparticles in 1D microstructures and hierarchic ordering in 3D flower-like mesostructures monitored and studied by in situ and time-resolved small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) measurements.

The Molecular Foundry is a Department of Energy-funded Nanoscale Science Research Center (NSRC) providing support to researchers from around the world. Nanoscience has the potential to open new frontiers in energy, electronics, materials science and healthcare. Research conducted at the Molecular Foundry identifies these new frontiers and develops science and technology strategies to enable them. Organized into six interdependent research facilities, the Foundry and its affiliated research laboratories provide access to state-of-the-art instrumentation, scientific expertise and specialized techniques to help users address myriad challenges in nanoscience and nanotechnology.

As nanoscale science, engineering, and technology (NSET) becomes more integrated into precollege science curricula, it is crucial for teachers to develop coherent understandings of science principles (e.g., the structure of matter, size and scale, forces and interactions, and size-dependent properties) that allow them to coordinate these understandings from the macro- to the nanoscale. Furthermore, as teachers acquire new NSET content knowledge through professional learning opportunities, it is incumbent upon NSET educators to understand their developing content knowledge. To this end, we report results from a study in which we used a pre-/post-/delayed-posttest design to examine the change in 24 secondary (grades 7–12) science teachers’ NSET content knowledge as a result of their participation in a year-long professional development program that consisted of a 2-week intensive course and academic year follow-up activities. Participants showed significant gains from pretest to posttest and significant gains on the delayed test compared to the pretest. We also present trends that emerged in teachers’ open-ended responses that provided deeper insight into teachers’ NSET content knowledge. Finally, we discuss issues related to the assessment of teachers’ NSET content knowledge as well as the design of NSET professional development for teachers.

In two past studies we observed and analyzed a group of European new and adolescent ventures, looking in particular at how they were about exploiting nanotechnology-based business opportunities, what was the role of intellectual property rights (IPRs), mainly patents, in those strategies, what was the link between patent filings in nanotechnology and exploitation patterns in the market. We formulated hypotheses and proposed an interpretative model of the strategic decisions and business choices. After a couple of years we took the opportunity to revisit some of the hypotheses and outcomes of the proposed interpretative model. If the overall framework of analysis is still, at least partly, applicable to the current situation, new trends emerge, which involve: the creation of extended portfolios of IPRs and intangible assets, which are both technology and marketing related, the entry of strategic investors and the new role of the financial and funding instruments, and the emergence of new types of consolidation patterns which are rooted in the net of strategic partnerships, collaborations and new forms of alliances in the supply chain and in the market.

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