This cover was designed by Dr. Yujie Xiong for a communication published in Journal of Materials Chemistry (2007, 17, pp. 2600-2602). It shows transmission electron micrograph (TEM) of silver nanoplates in the background and high-resolution TEM of the cross section of such a silver nanoplate, showing the stacking faults along the vertical direction. This synthesis is based upon the polyol reduction of silver nitrate in the presence of polyacrylamide, which can form complex with silver ions and thus slow down the reduction.
This cover was designed by Dr. Marta Ibisate (a visiting scientist from Spain who was supported by a Fulbright Fellowship) for an article published in Advanced Functional Materials (2006, 16, pp. 1627-1632). It shows scanning electron micrograph of dimers assembled from silica spheres. By controlling the interaction potential between colloidal spheres of silica , they could be induced to form dimers, which could be fixed by adding a sol-gel precursor to silica into the reaction system. The yield could be as high as 80%.
This cover was designed by Benjamin Wiley (Ph.D., 2006) for a feature article published in the Journal of Physical Chemistry B (2006, 110, pp. 15666-15675). It shows the formation of silver nanocubes, pentagonal nanowires, and right bipyramids from atoms through three different types of seeds: single-crystal cubooctahedron, multiply twinned decahedron with a five-fold axis, and singly twinned, respectively. Such a shape control enables one to maneuver the optical (plasmonic) properties of silver nanocrystals.
This cover was designed by Dr. Unyong Jeong for an article published in Nature Materials (2005, 4, pp. 671-675). It shows a colorized scanning electron micrograph of polystyrene beads with hollow interiors and controllable pores in their surfaces. This novel class of colloidal particles were fabricated by swelling solid polymer beads with a proper solvent, followed by freeze-drying. A combination of phase separation and solvent evaporation results in the formation such hollow, porous polymer beads useful in encapsulation.
This cover was designed by Benjamin Wiley (Ph.D., 2006) for a special issue published in Materials Research Society (MRS) Bulletin (2005, 30, p. 338). The special issue was co-edited by Professors Younan Xia and Naomi Halas, with a focus on the plasmonic properties of metal nanoparticles. It includes six review articles on the synthesis and characterization of silver and gold nanostructures, as well as their surface plasmon resonance (SPR) properties and applications in sensing or surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS).
This cover was designed by Jesse McCann (Ph.D., 2006) for a feature article published in Journal of Materials Chemistry (2005, 15, pp. 735-738). It shows how the spinneret (see the center for a coaxial configuration) for electrospinning can be modified to fabricate nanofibers with a range of different morphologies, including tubular fibers (upper left corner), porous fibers (upper right corner), and nanotubes with selectively functionalized inner or outer surface (lower corners).
This cover was designed by Benjamin Wiley (Ph.D., 2006) for a concepts article published in Chemistry: A European Journal (2005, 11, pp. 454-463). It illustrates the synthesis of silver nanocrystals with different shapes via the polyol process, which involves reduction of silver nitrate with ethylene glycol at an elevated temperature in the presence of poly(vinyl pyrrolidone) (PVP). By varying the experimental conditions, one can obtain silver nanocrystals with different shapes, including nanocubes and nanowires.
This cover was designed by Brian Mayer (Ph.D., 2003) for a special issue published in Advanced Materials (2004, 16, p. 1245). The special issue was dedicated to Professor George M. Whitesides on the occasion of his 65th birthday. It includes an interview of Whitesides, 18 review articles, research news articles, and communications by his former students and postdoctoral fellows, with a focus on "soft lithography". It also contains a very useful essay by Whitesides on how to write a scientific paper (p. 1375).
This cover was designed by Yadong Yin (Ph.D., 2002) for a feature article published in Advanced Functional Materials (2003, 13, pp. 907-918). It shows scanning electron micrograph of an array of colloidal clusters (or molecules) fabricated using template-assisted self-assembly (TASA). The key is to control the sizes of the templates (e.g., cylindrical holes patterned in a photoresist film) relative to the diameter of the polymer beads or other types of building blocks, which could be small as tens of nanometers.
This cover was designed by Brian Mayer (Ph.D., 2003) for a special issue on nanowires published in Advanced Materials (2003, 15, p. 353). The special issue was co-edited by Professors Younan Xia and Peidong Yang. It includes 18 review articles, research news articles, and communications on the synthesis, chemistry, physics, and technological applications of metal and semiconductor nanowires. The review article by Xia, Yang, and their co-workers has become the most cited paper published in Advanced Materials.
This cover was designed by Dr. Hiroshi Fudouzi (a visiting scientists from NIMS in Japan) for a communication published in Advanced Materials (2003, 15, pp. 892-896). It shows how to use colorless inks to print colorful images on photonic paper - a composite material fabricated by infiltrating an opal lattice of polymer beads with an elastomer such as poly(dimethyl siloxane) (PDMS). When the PDMS matrix was swollen with a silicone fluid, the lattice constant and thus the wavelength of diffracted light would be increased.
This cover was designed Yu Lu (Ph.D., 2003) for a paper published in Nano Letters (2002, 2, pp. 785-788). It shows scanning electron micrograph (in the back-scattering mode) of a crystalline lattice assembled from gold@silica core-shell colloidal spheres. Since gold has a higher atomic number than silicon, one can clearly see the gold cores even though they are enclosed in silica shells. Such core-shell particles offers a new class of building blocks for fabricating photonic crystals with additional plasmonic features.