12-03 :: March/April 2012

nanotimes News in Brief

Researchers at the Faculty of Engineering and the Institute of Nanotechnology and Advanced Mate- rials, Bar Ilan University, in Israel are developing tumour detection techniques based on diffusion reflectance (DR) measurements of injected gold nanorods (GNRs). In their latest work, they use DR – an inexpensive and easy-to-use method for ana- lysing tissue optical parameters – to quantitatively measure the in vivo concentration of GNRs.

Rinat Ankri, Hamootal Duadi, Menachem Motiei, Dror Fixler: In-vivo Tumor detection using diffusion reflection measurements of targeted gold nanorods – a quantitative study, In: Journal of Biophotonics, Volume 5, Issue 3, Mar- ch 2012, Pages 263-273, DOI:10.1002/jbio.201100120 http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/jbio.201100120

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A technique for creating a new molecule that struc- turally and chemically replicates the active part of the widely used industrial catalyst molybdenite has been developed by researchers with the Berkeley Lab (US). This technique holds promise for the cre- ation of catalytic materials that can serve as effec- tive low-cost alternatives to platinum for generating hydrogen gas from water that is acidic. Chang, Long and their research team met their challenge using a pentapyridyl ligand known as PY5Me2 to create a molybdenum disulfide molecule that, while not found in nature, is stable and structurally identical to the proposed triangular edge sites of molybde- nite. It was shown that these synthesized molecules can form a layer of material that is analogous to constructing a sulfide edge of molybdenite.

Researchers at the Nano-Science Center at the University of Copenhagen have developed a new nano-technology platform for the development of molecule-based electronic components using gra- phene.

Tao Li, Jonas Rahlf Hauptmann, Zhongming Wei, Søren Petersen, Nicolas Bovet,TomVosch, Jesper Nygård,Wen- ping Hu, Yunqi Liu, Thomas Bjørnholm, Kasper Nørg- aard, Bo W. Laursen: Solution-Processed Ultrathin Che- mically Derived Graphene Films as Soft Top Contacts for Solid-State Molecular Electronic Junctions, In: Advanced Materials Early View, February 06, 2012, DOI:10.1002/ adma.201104550:

http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/adma.201104550 http://nano.ku.dk/

“The electronic structure of our molecular analog can be adjusted through ligand modifications,” Long says. “This suggests we should be able to tailor the material‘s activity, stability and required over- potential for proton reduction to improve its perfor- mance.”

Hemamala Karunadasa, Elizabeth Montalvo, Yujie Sun and Marcin Majda: A Molecular MoS2 Edge Site Mimic for Catalytic Hydrogen Generation, In: Science, Vol. 335 (2012), Issue 6069, February 10, 2012, Pages 698-702, DOI: 10.1126/science.1215868: http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1215868