An introduction to molecular spintronics

We review the progress and future possibilities in the emerging area of molecular spintronics. We first provide an overview of the different transport regimes in which electronic nanodevices can operate, then briefly overview the important characteristics of molecular magnetic materials that can be useful for application in spintronics and we eventually present several schemes to include such systems into spintronic nanodevices. We hightlight the importance of a chemical approach to the area, and in the last section we showcase some approaches to the creation of hybrids made of carbon nanostructures and molecular magnets, which are gaining increasing attention.     

Janus Gold Nanostars–Mesoporous Silica Nanoparticles for NIR-Light-Triggered Drug Delivery

Janus gold nanostar–mesoporous silica nanoparticle ( AuNSt–MSNP ) nanodevices able to release an entrapped payload upon irradiation with near infrared (NIR) light were prepared and characterized. The AuNSt surface was functionalized with a thiolated photolabile molecule ( 5 ), whereas the mesoporous silica face was loaded with a model drug (doxorubicin) and capped with proton-responsive benzimidazole-β-cyclodextrin supramolecular gatekeepers ( N 1 ). Upon irradiation with NIR-light, the photolabile compound 5 photodissociated, resulting in the formation of succinic acid, which induced the opening of the gatekeeper and cargo delivery. In the overall mechanism, the gold surface acts as a photochemical transducer capable of transforming the NIR-light input into a chemical messenger (succinic acid) that opens the supramolecular nanovalve. The prepared hybrid nanoparticles were non-cytotoxic to HeLa cells, until they were irradiated with a NIR laser, which led to intracellular doxorubicin release and hyperthermia. This induced a remarkable reduction in HeLa cells viability.     

可见近红外光响应直接Z型异质结光催化剂LaNiO3/CdS的产氢性能

通过冷凝-回流方式制备可见近红外光响应直接 Z型 LaNiO₃/CdS纳米杂化物，在对其进行物理化学表征后将其应用于光解水产氢反应。在可见光照射下，LaNiO₃/CdS光催化剂在5 h的H₂产量达到737 μmol，其H₂产量是CdS的4.3倍(172 μmol)。光电化学测试证实，LaNiO₃/CdS之间异质结的构筑能有效地促进光生载流子在界面的迁移、分离，从而促进其光解水产氢效率和稳定性的提高。同时随着近红外光的引入，其产氢活性提高至996 μmol。在上转换荧光测试中，LaNiO₃在808 nm光激发下在406和628 nm显示出发射荧光，这表明其能在近红外光照射下产生光生载流子，从而进一步提高其光解水产氢效率。     

Smart Coatings Prepared via MAPLE Deposition of Polymer Nanocapsules for Light-Induced Release

Herein, smart coatings based on photo-responsive polymer nanocapsules (NC) and deposited by laser evaporation are presented. These systems combine remotely controllable release and high encapsulation efficiency of nanoparticles with the easy handling and safety of macroscopic substrates. In particular, azobenzene-based NC loaded with active molecules (thyme oil and coumarin 6) were deposited through Matrix-Assisted Pulsed Laser Evaporation (MAPLE) on flat inorganic (KBr) and organic (polyethylene, PE) and 3D (acrylate-based micro-needle array) substrates. SEM analyses highlighted the versatility and performance of MAPLE in the fabrication of the designed smart coatings. DLS analyses, performed on both MAPLE- and drop casting-deposited NC, demonstrated the remarkable adhesion achieved with MAPLE. Finally, thyme oil and coumarin 6 release experiments further demonstrated that MAPLE is a promising technique for the realization of photo-responsive coatings on various substrates.     

pH Tuning of Water-Soluble Arylazopyrazole Photoswitches

Arylazopyrazoles are an emerging class of photoswitches with redshifted switching wavelength, high photostationary states, long thermal half-lives and facile synthetic access. Understanding pathways for a simple modulation of the thermal half-lives, while keeping other parameters of interest constant, is an important aspect for out-of-equilibrium systems design and applications. Here, it is demonstrated that the thermal half-life of a water-soluble PEG-tethered arylazo-bis(o-methylated)pyrazole (AAP) can be tuned by more than five orders of magnitude using simple pH adjustment, which is beyond the tunability of azobenzenes. The mechanism of thermal relaxation is investigated by thorough spectroscopic analyses and density functional theory (DFT) calculations. Finally, the concepts of a tunable half-life are transferred from the molecular scale to the material scale. Based on the photochromic characteristics of E- and Z-AAP, transient information storage is showcased in form of light-written patterns inside films cast from different pH, which in turn leads to different times of storage. With respect to prospective precisely tunable materials and time-programmed out-of-equilibrium systems, an externally tunable half-life is likely advantageous over changing the entire system by the replacement of the photoswitch.     

Phase transition in polymer gels due to local heating by illumination of light

The volume phase transition in gels induced by visible light and its related properties are presented, the mechanism of which is based on local heating of a polymer network by illumination of light. The gels consist of a covalently cross-linked copolymer network of thermosensitive N-isopropylacrylamide and a chromophore. Without light illumination, the gel volume changes sharply, but continuously at approximately 34°C when the temperature is varied. At a fixed temperature of an appropriate value, a discontinuous volume transition is observed when the light intensity is gradually changed. The phase transitions can be understood in terms of the temperature increment at the immediate vicinity of polymer chains due to the local heating via light absorption and subsequent thermal dissipation of light by the chromophore. The results can be qualitatively described by the Flory-Huggins mean-field equation of state of gels. In order to make clear the mechanism of the light-induced phase transition in the present system, we measured the light transmitting properties and the swelling as well as shrinking kinetics. These preliminary results are described semi-qualitatively by making use of a simple phenomenological model.     

Efficient design method for cell allocation in hybrid CMOS/nanodevices using a cultural algorithm with chaotic behavior

The hybrid CMOS molecular (CMOL) circuit, which combines complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor (CMOS) components with nanoscale wires and switches, can exhibit significantly improved performance. In CMOL circuits, the nanodevices, which are called cells, should be placed appropriately and are connected by nanowires. The cells should be connected such that they follow the shortest path. This paper presents an efficient method of cell allocation in CMOL circuits with the hybrid CMOS/nanodevice structure; the method is based on a cultural algorithm with chaotic behavior. The optimal model of cell allocation is derived, and the coding of an individual representing a cell allocation is described. Then the cultural algorithm with chaotic behavior is designed to solve the optimal model. The cultural algorithm consists of a population space, a belief space, and a protocol that describes how knowledge is exchanged between the population and belief spaces. In this paper, the evolutionary processes of the population space employ a genetic algorithm in which three populations undergo parallel evolution. The evolutionary processes of the belief space use a chaotic ant colony algorithm. Extensive experiments on cell allocation in benchmark circuits showed that a low area usage can be obtained using the proposed method, and the computation time can be reduced greatly compared to that of a conventional genetic algorithm.     

Targeted deposition of Au aerosol nanoparticles on vertical nanowires for the creation of nanotrees

Complex tree-like nanostructures with controlled morphology are becoming increasingly important for the development of nanoscale devices. The position of branches on III–V semiconductor nanotrees is determined by the distribution of Au seed particles. Here we report the dependence of the distribution of Au aerosol nanoparticles on nanowires on parameters including distance between wires, particle size, wire length, wire diameter, III–V material and particle charge. It was observed that different wire lengths and separation distances as well as different particle polarities have a significant effect on the resulting particle distribution while different wire diameters, particle diameters, materials and deposition voltages do not.     

基于cypate光裂解的新型近红外光响应稀土上转换纳米载药系统※

光响应药物释放体系具有非侵入性、远程可控且时空分辨率高等特点, 在杀菌、抗癌等生物医学领域具有重要应用价值. 但目前近红外光响应的光裂解药物递送体系报道较少且光响应效率还有待提高. 本工作将稀土纳米颗粒包覆介孔二氧化硅, 逐步偶联近红外染料cypate、金刚烷胺和β-环糊精来封堵孔口, 利用cypate的自敏光氧化断键作为光响应开关, 成功构建了一种新型近红外光响应稀土上转换纳米载药系统. 该纳米载药系统负载抗生素氧氟沙星表现出极低的药物流失率和较高的808 nm光照释放效率, 并且通过控制光照时间可以满足不同的给药量需求. 体外抗菌实验结果进一步验证了该纳米载药系统的光响应药物释放性能. 此外, 该纳米载药系统在980 nm激光激发下的上转换发光较强且不影响药物释放, 可以实现纳米载药系统的药物定位和生物成像功能. 本研究为发展高效光响应载药体系提供了新的思路.     

Visible light-induced photocatalysts with reductive energy storage abilities

Reductive energy from visible light-responsive Au–TiO₂ photocatalyst, which is based on plasmon resonance absorption of Au nanoparticles, can be stored in WO₃ as a reductive energy storage material. About 60% of the charge stored in WO₃ is consumed on the WO₃ and the other 40% is on the Au–TiO₂ by reduction of ambient O₂. Electrochemically pretreated MoO₃ can also be used as an energy storage material.