Zinc Oxide Nanowires Make Nifty Nanolasers

摘要

Nanoscale chemistry is expanding rapidly and could soon be one of the dominant areas of chemistry. In the current Hot Ten there are no fewer than five papers devoted to it; these occupy positions #1 through #5. And while the applications of nanotech-nology are really the realm of physics, their fabrication is clearly the province of chemists. The range of potential nanomaterials is remarkably diverse, as these five papers show. Paper #1 reports that zinc oxide nanowires can act as ultraviolet lasers. Paper #2, first featured in Science Watch in March/April 2002, reports a nanoswitch made of interlocking molecular rings. Paper #3 suggests that carbon nanotubes could be the basis of random access memory for molecular computing. Paper #4 is about ways of growing nanocrystals of cobalt that have magnetic properties; this report was highlighted in Science Watch in July/August 2002. Paper #5 announces that silicon nanowires doped with boron or phosphorus can perform as semiconductors.