A key achievement in shrinking photonic devices below the diffraction limit — a necessary step on the road to making photonic circuits competitive with today’s technology — has been revealed by scientists.

A single-electron transistor is an electrical device that takes advantage of a strange quantum phenomenon called tunneling to transport single electrons across a thin insulator. The device serves as an on/off switch on the tiniest scale and could play an important role in quantum computing.

Chemists using computational techniques to predict how nanoscale materials will behave recently made a surprising discovery about the structure of bimetallic catalysts. An imperfect surface may produce a better catalyst.

Researchers have been studying mucus in the lungs of cystic fibrosis patients, and their primary goal was to design inhalable therapeutic nanoparticles that cross the cystic fibrosis mucus barrier in the lung. But the work recently led the researchers to the unexpected discovery that mucus appears to change as the disease progresses; the mobility of these nanoparticles could vary widely in mucus from different patients.

Scientists have carried out a study aimed at precisely controlling phase transformations with high spatial precision, which represents a significant step forward in realizing new functionalities in confined dimensions. Such a precise control of phase transformations opens up new avenues for materials design and processing, as well as advanced nanodevice fabrication.

Chemists have witnessed atoms of one chemical element morph into another for the first time ever — a feat that produced an unexpected outcome that could lead to a new way to safely treat cancer with radiation.

Quantum dots promise an astounding range of applications, if scientists can conquer their annoying habit of blinking. Researchers recently ran simulations that offer new insights into the problem.

Researchers have created stretchable, transparent conductors that work because of the structures’ ‘nano-accordion’ design. The conductors could be used in a wide variety of applications, such as flexible electronics, stretchable displays or wearable sensors.

New research outlines how the creation of ‘nanofibers’ could provide new and improved products and delivery systems for supplementary foodstuffs.

Scientists published first experimental results showing that ordinary nanocrystals possess intrinsic chirality and can be produced under normal conditions as a half-and-half mixture of mirror images of each other. The discovery of this fundamental property in nanocrystals opens new horizons in nano- and bio-technology and medicine, for instance, for such applications as targeted drug delivery.