Themed collection Design and function of materials nanoarchitectonics

Katsuhiko Ariga and Omar Azzaroni introduce the Nanoscale and Nanoscale Advances themed collection on the design and function of materials nanoarchitectonics.

New nanoarchitectonics for conductive polymers using solid and vapor phases facilitates formation of homogenous coating, hierarchical morphologies, composites, and copolymers.

Nanoarchitectonics, like architectonics, allows the design and building of structures, but at the nanoscale.

Engineering materials at atomic/molecular level to develop functional nanoscale systems define nanoarchitectonics.

This short review article describes recent approaches to materials nanoarchitectonics in a liquid-based two-dimensional world, i.e., interfacial regions within a nanoscale distance from the liquid phase.

We provide an overview of recent efforts in obtaining signal-amplified sensing systems along with their biological applications, current challenges and prospects in this promising new area.

Inspired by artificial caviar formation from molecular cuisine, we can form macroscale thiol-ene polymer beads via carbon nitride under static conditions. Carbonization of the so-formed beads yields N-doped gradient carbon spheres.

Controlled formation of CNT–Al₂O₃–ZrO₂ composite granules by an electrostatic integrated nano-assembly method.

This study proposes a methodology for the fabrication of two-dimensional assemblies of asymmetric Ag nanoprisms based on the classical theory for the surface excess of butanol in an aqueous mixture and Rayleigh–Bénard–Marangoni convection.

Mixed-valence ruthenium trinuclear clusters containing dichloroacetates were synthesized, and the self-assembly of a single molecular adlayer composed of these clusters on a graphite surface was investigated by atomic force microscopy.

The conductivity of the film was affected by the thickness of the silica shell on carbon black.

We developed a novel amphiphilic material, arginine-arginine (RR)-bile acid (BA). RR-BA selectively binds to aSN in Parkinson’s disease and boosts aSN amyloidogenesis through a mechanism of electrostatic binding-hydrophobic condensation.

This study reports assembly of tailor-made nanostructured biomaterial – artificial 3D cellular microenvironment via deposition of a lipid bilayer (as the cellular membrane) on the top of a biopolymer multilayer cushion (as the extracellular matrix).

The nanocoating consisting of co-assembled silk sericin protein and anthocyanin nanoparticles is designed, constructed, and characterized to chelate metal ions with a saturation-visualization detection behavior.

Nucleic acid therapy is attracting great attention in diverse clinical translations because of its therapeutic advantages.

The ability to integrate two disparate materials-binding domains into a single ligand to achieve regiospecific binding would be powerful to direct material assembly; however, this has proven challenging to achieve due to cross-materials binding.

Engineering different nanomaterials into a single functional material can impart unique properties of the parental nanoparticles, especially in the field of bio imaging and therapy.

In this paper, density functional theory and theory of contacts and adhesion of fibrillar interfaces (Gecko’s effect) are combined to investigate elasto-capillary-driven self-assembly of carbon nanotubes arrays.

In this work, we provide guidelines for the formation of multicompartment micelles with defined shapes and inner structure through direct redispersion of terpolymer bulk morphologies in selective, plasticizing solvents.

Intermolecular cross-linking through electron irradiation is proven to be an effective tool to improve the mechanical and electronic properties of molecular self-assembled monolayers, which is known to be a key player for material nanoarchitectonics.

Self-assembled lipopeptides act function like the active site of acetylcholinesterase to detect organophosphorus pesticides.

We found solid-state surfactants as designable crystals suitable for nanostructural control and proposed a novel synthetic route for molecularly-thin Pt metal nanosheets using solid surfactant crystals as a precursor.

A water/chloroform interface-assisted one-pot synthesis of ultra-thin PPy/MnO₂ sheets enriched with ∼6 nm MnO₂ NPs. The decrease in the dynamic interfacial tension (γ) of the L/L interface proved the adsorption of MnO₂ attached PPy oligomers.

Three hydrophilic fullerene structures are fabricated. FNTs induce neural stem cell differentiation in the culture dish or in the composite hydrogel.

The first demonstration of flexible 1.3 μm photodetectors fabricated with InN nanowires (NWs) and graphene on an overhead projector transparency (OHP) sheet.

Glutamine deprivation sensitizes cancer cells HeLa to mitochondrial inactivity and cell cycle arrest mediated cell death induction by low-dose phytosynthesized gold nanoparticles.

The co-doping of phosphorous/nitrogen in fullerene-derived hollow carbon spheres by the chemical modification and assembly of C₆₀s, leads to a superior catalytic performance of the ORR.

We synthesized the Pb-free perovskite NCs doped with bismuth ions and investigated their photophysical properties to reveal the role of the dopant on the enhanced photoemission properties.

Porous organic polymers (POPs) have been prepared via a novel metal-free polycondensation between a tritopic indole-based monomer and squaric, croconic and rhodizonic acids.

An architectural approach for design of functional materials based on natural tubule nanoclay with functional elements placed selectively inside or outside these aluminosilicate tubes.

De novo designed peptides self-assembled on a graphite surface to produce highly robust and active electrocatalysts and promote peroxidation reactions with activities that rival those of natural enzymes in both single and multi-substrate reactions.

CNFST/Cu quaternary nanocomposite was developed for the photodegradation of three different kinds of pollutants and disinfection of pathogenic micro-organisms in water.

A reservoir that is more sensitive to lower frequencies is developed by a Ag₂S-island network, where Ag filament growth/shrinkage achieves non-linear transformation of input signals. Six logic operations are achieved with accuracy higher than 99%.

We demonstrate an unusual state, the X state, by naturally drying up a dough which is composed of Ni(H₂O)₂[(Ni(CN)₄]·H₂O nanosheets and water. This X-state mixture shows mechanical characteristics different from both liquids and brittle solids.

A simple synthesis strategy for constructing yolk–shell mesoporous silica nanoparticles is reported for enhanced drug delivery of chemotherapeutic drugs.

The fibrillar assembly of Akd^NMCPy peptidomimetics with cyclic dipeptide and pyrene units was engineered into Cu-guided differential architectures that stabilize Cu^II and Cu^I states and exhibit distinct catalytic activities.

In this work, we report a strategy to construct a two-component nanostructure comprised of two building blocks that undergo self-sorting assembly at the monomer level followed by a supramolecular association to form a nanofiber-wrapped nanotube.

A chimeric locked nucleic acid (LNA)–DNA sensor enables hybridization chain reaction (HCR) for the efficient detection and nanoscale imaging of HIV-1 RNA transcripts in cell lysates, and fixed and live cells.

A strategy of designing Fmoc-protected ornithine lipids with dissymmetrical alkyl tails was employed to hierarchically tune the self-assembled lipid nanostructures from nanotubes to bundles and nanotwists.