Home > Press > New technology gives insight into how nanomaterials form and grow: Researchers examine ‘living’ nanomaterials for first time
![]() |
Nathan Gianneschi |
Abstract:
•Researcher: ‘Until now, we could only look at ‘dead,’ static nanomaterials’
•New technology could revolutionize nanoscience similar to how live cell imaging revolutionized biology
•Team used new technique to watch metal-organic nanotubes form
A new form of electron microscopy allows researchers to examine nanoscale tubular materials while they are “alive” and forming liquids — a first in the field.
Developed by a multidisciplinary team at Northwestern University and the University of Tennessee, the new technique, called variable temperature liquid-phase transmission electron microscopy (VT-LPTEM), allows researchers to investigate these dynamic, sensitive materials with high resolution. With this information, researchers can better understand how nanomaterials grow, form and evolve.
“Until now, we could only look at ‘dead,’ static materials,” said Northwestern’s Nathan Gianneschi, who co-led the study. “This new technique allows us to examine dynamics directly — something that could not be done before.”
Gianneschi is the Jacob and Rosaline Cohn Professor of Chemistry in Northwestern’s Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences, professor of materials science and engineering and biomedical engineering in the McCormick School of Engineering, and associate director of the International Institute for Nanotechnology. He co-led the study with David Jenkins, associate professor of chemistry at University of Tennessee, Knoxville.
After live-cell imaging became possible in the early 20th century, it revolutionized the field of biology. For the first time, scientists could watch living cells as they actively developed, migrated and performed vital functions. Before, researchers could only study dead, fixed cells. The technological leap provided critical insight into the nature and behavior of cells and tissues.
“We think LPTEM could do for nanoscience what live-cell light microscopy has done for biology,” Gianneschi said.
LPTEM allows researchers to mix components and perform chemical reactions while watching them unfold beneath a transmission electron microscope.
In this work, Gianneschi, Jenkins and their teams studied metal-organic nanotubes (MONTs). A subclass of metal-organic frameworks, MONTs have high potential for use as nanowires in miniature electronic devices, nanoscale lasers, semiconductors and sensors for detecting cancer biomarkers and virus particles. MONTs, however, are little explored because the key to unlocking their potential lies in understanding how they are formed.
For the first time, the Northwestern and University of Tennessee team watched MONTs form with LPTEM and made the first measurements of finite bundles of MONTs on the nanometer scale.
The research, “Elucidating the growth of metal-organic nanotubes combining isorecticular synthesis with liquid-cell transmission electron microscopy,” was supported by the National Science Foundation (award numbers ECCS-1542205 and DMR-1720139) and the Army Research Office (W911NF-18-1-0359).
The research was a collaboration between Gianneschi’s laboratory, which has expertise in transmission electron microscopy, and Jenkins’s laboratory, which has expertise in metal-organic nanotubes. Northwestern postdoctoral fellow Karthikeyan Gnanasekaran and University of Tennessee graduate student Kristina Vailonis served as the paper’s co-first authors. Gianneschi is also a member of the Simpson Querrey Institute and the Chemistry of Life Processes Institute at Northwestern.
####
For more information, please click here
Contacts:
Amanda Morris at 847-467-6790 or
Copyright © Northwestern University
If you have a comment, please Contact us.Issuers of news releases, not 7th Wave, Inc. or Nanotechnology Now, are solely responsible for the accuracy of the content.
Related Links |
The paper was published online this week in the Journal of the American Chemical Society:
Related News Press |
News and information
New compound unleashes the immune system on metastases September 8th, 2023
Machine learning contributes to better quantum error correction September 8th, 2023
Tests find no free-standing nanotubes released from tire tread wear September 8th, 2023
Possible Futures
New compound unleashes the immune system on metastases September 8th, 2023
Machine learning contributes to better quantum error correction September 8th, 2023
Tests find no free-standing nanotubes released from tire tread wear September 8th, 2023
Nanomedicine
Electronic detection of DNA nanoballs enables simple pathogen detection Peer-Reviewed Publication September 8th, 2023
New compound unleashes the immune system on metastases September 8th, 2023
Tattoo technique transfers gold nanopatterns onto live cells August 11th, 2023
Discoveries
Electronic detection of DNA nanoballs enables simple pathogen detection Peer-Reviewed Publication September 8th, 2023
Training quantum computers: physicists win prestigious IBM Award September 8th, 2023
Tests find no free-standing nanotubes released from tire tread wear September 8th, 2023
Announcements
Electronic detection of DNA nanoballs enables simple pathogen detection Peer-Reviewed Publication September 8th, 2023
Training quantum computers: physicists win prestigious IBM Award September 8th, 2023
Machine learning contributes to better quantum error correction September 8th, 2023
Tests find no free-standing nanotubes released from tire tread wear September 8th, 2023
Interviews/Book Reviews/Essays/Reports/Podcasts/Journals/White papers/Posters
Electronic detection of DNA nanoballs enables simple pathogen detection Peer-Reviewed Publication September 8th, 2023
New compound unleashes the immune system on metastases September 8th, 2023
Nanobiotechnology
Electronic detection of DNA nanoballs enables simple pathogen detection Peer-Reviewed Publication September 8th, 2023
New compound unleashes the immune system on metastases September 8th, 2023
Tattoo technique transfers gold nanopatterns onto live cells August 11th, 2023
Research partnerships
Electronic detection of DNA nanoballs enables simple pathogen detection Peer-Reviewed Publication September 8th, 2023
Polymer p-doping improves perovskite solar cell stability January 20th, 2023
![]() |
||
![]() |
||
The latest news from around the world, FREE | ||
![]() |
![]() |
||
Premium Products | ||
![]() |
||
Only the news you want to read!
Learn More |
||
![]() |
||
Full-service, expert consulting
Learn More |
||
![]() |