ACS Nano Journal – NEW in 2007!

Well, I caught this one relatively quickly. There is another new ACS journal that just began publication this week. Called ACS Nano, this new journal of the American Chemical Society will cover cutting-edge research on “synthesis, assembly, characterization, theory, and simulation of nanostructures (nanomaterials and assemblies, nanodevices, and self-assembled structures), nanobiotechnology, nanofabrication, methods and tools for nanoscience and nanotechnology, and self- and directed-assembly.”

The inaugural issue was published online on August 14. This journal will be available during 2007 for free – thereafter, WMU faculty and students will have access to this journal via our ACS Web Editions link via the Waldo Library homepage. (Don’t forget that ever important BroncoNet ID and password, though.) The table of contents includes:

Editorial: Welcome to ACS Nano – editorial by Paul S. Weiss

In Nano (news feature)

Conversation: A Conversation with Dr. Heinrich Rohrer: STM Co-inventor and One of the Founding Fathers of Nanoscience – Paul S. Weiss

NanoFocus: 2007 IEEE Device Research Conference: Tour de Force Multigate and Nanowire Metal Oxide Semiconductor Field-Effect Transistors and Their Application – Pengpeng Zhang, Theresa S. Mayer, and Thomas N. Jackson

Perspective: Heads or Tails: Which Is More Important in Molecular Self-Assembly? – Stacey F. Bent (See the accompanying Article by McGuiness et al. on p 30.)

Electron Storage in Single Wall Carbon Nanotubes. Fermi Level Equilibration in Semiconductor–SWCNT Suspensions – Anusorn Kongkanand and Prashant V. Kamat

Adsorption, Interaction, and Manipulation of Dibutyl Sulfide on Cu{111} – Stephen C. Jensen, Ashleigh E. Baber, Heather L. Tierney, and E. Charles H. Sykes

Molecular Self-Assembly at Bare Semiconductor Surfaces: Characterization of a Homologous Series of n-Alkanethiolate Monolayers on GaAs(001) – Christine L. McGuiness, Daniel Blasini, John P. Masejewski, Sundararajan Uppili, Orlando M. Cabarcos, Detlef Smilgies, and David L. Allara

Supramolecular Chemistry on Water-Soluble Carbon Nanotubes for Drug Loading and Delivery – Zhuang Liu, Xiaoming Sun, Nozomi Nakayama-Ratchford, and Hongjie Dai

Oriented Nanomaterial Air Bridges Formed from Suspended Polymer-Composite Nanofibers – Santosh Pabba, Anton N. Sidorov, Scott M. Berry, Mehdi M. Yazdanpanah, Robert S. Keynton, Gamini U. Sumanasekera, and Robert W. Cohn

A General Approach for DNA Encapsulation in Degradable Polymer Microcapsules – Alexander N. Zelikin, Alisa L. Becker, Angus P. R. Johnston, Kim L. Wark, Fabio Turatti, and Frank Caruso

Journal of Physical Chemistry C – NEW in 2007

This is news to me, although it may not be news to you in chemical engineering and materials science. The American Chemical Society started a new “Journal of Physical Chemistry” this year – with the name Journal of Physical Chemistry C. According to the blurb on the ACS Journals site, this new journal (which already has 33 issues for the year, so I’m a little late with this post) will cover “research on nanoparticles, nanostructures, surfaces, interfaces, catalysis, electron transport, optical and electronic devices, and energy conversion and storage.” I would think that this new journal would be highly relevant to those of you doing research in nanotechnology and fuel cell technology. All WMU faculty and students have access to this journal via the ACS Web Editions link from the Waldo Library homepage. The links above will get you the full text of the articles if you are on campus. Those of you accessing this journal from off-campus will be prompted to enter your Bronco Net ID and password.

There are eighteen articles in the latest issue (no. 33) that deal with nanotechnology – including the following:

• The Role of Metal Contact in the Sensitivity of Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes to NO2 – R. Larciprete, L. Petaccia, S. Lizzit, and A. Goldini
• Computational Design of a Rectifying Diode Made by Interconnecting Carbon Nanotubes with Peptide Linkages – Mohammad Khazaei, Sang Uck Lee, Fabio Pichierri, and Yoshiyuki Kawazoe
• Controllable Synthesis of CuS Nanostructures from Self-Assembled Precursors with Biomolecule Assistance – Benxia Li, Yi Xie, and Yi Xue
• Molecular Dynamics of Ice-Nanotube Formation Inside Carbon Nanotubes – Junichiro Shiomi, Tatsuto Kimura, and Shigeo Maruyama
• Three-Dimensionally Ordered Macroporous Gold Structure as an Efficient Matrix for Solid-State Electrochemiluminescence of Ru(bpy)32+/TPA System with High Sensitivity – Wei Gao, Xing-Hua Xia, Jing-Juan Xu, and Hong-Yuan Chen
• Magnetic Particles as Labels in Bioassays: Interactions between a Biotinylated Gold Substrate and Streptavidin Magnetic Particles – Randy De Palma, Chengxun Liu, Francesca Barbagini, Gunter Reekmans, Kristien Bonroy, Wim Laureyn, Gustaaf Borghs, and Guido Maes
• ZnFe2O4 Nanocrystals: Synthesis and Magnetic Properties – Changwa Yao, Qiaoshi Zeng, G. F. Goya, T. Torres, Jinfang Liu, Haiping Wu, Mingyuan Ge, Yuewu Zeng, Youwen Wang, and J. Z. Jiang
• Photoswitchable Semiconductor Bismuth Sulfide (Bi2S3) Nanowires and Their Self-Supported Nanowire Arrays – Haifeng Bao, Xiaoqiang Cui, Chang Ming Li, Ye Gan, Jun Zhang, and Jun Guo
• Theoretical Study of the Electronic Structure of GaAs Nanotubes – Chanchal Ghosh, Sougata Pal, Biplab Goswami, and Pranab Sarkar

Five-step check for nano safety – from BBC News

BBC News reports that a group of five researchers has come up with a list of five challenges to be met by nanotechnology if it is to be considered safe.  The researchers’ commentary has been published in the November 16th issue of the journal Nature (v.444).  If you have institutional access to Nature, you can read their commentary at the link provided, otherwise you can read their points at the BBC news site.

Their commentary discusses the need for nanotechnology researchers to seriously consider the risks inherent in this technology and how to avoid those risks.  The five challenges that nanotechnology needs to “pass” are:

• Develop instruments to assess exposure to engineered nanomaterials in air and water within next 3-10 years
• Create and test ways of evaluating the toxicity of nanomaterials in 5-15 years
• Generate models to predict their possible impact on the environment and human health over the next 10 years
• Develop ways to assess the health and environmental impact of nanomaterials over their entire lifetime, within the next five years
• Organise programmes to enable risk-focused research into nanomaterials, within the next 12 months