Nanosystems Initiative Munich

About: Nanosystems Initiative Munich is a facility organization based out in Munich, Germany. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Quantum dot & Perovskite (structure). The organization has 323 authors who have published 549 publications receiving 24316 citations.

X-ray study of anisotropically shaped metal halide perovskite nanoparticles in tubular pores

Abstract: Recently, we have reported that metal halide perovskite nanoparticles formed in nanoporous alumina and silicon thin films exhibit blue shifted photoluminescence due to spatial confinement, thus allowing for color tuning of the emission by varying the pore size. While perovskite nanoparticles grown in nanoporous alumina films have been integrated into LEDs, similar approaches have failed with silicon. Here, we report the results of investigating the structure of the alumina pore system and the perovskite crystallites forming within. We use two x-ray diffraction techniques, namely, small-angle x-ray scattering (SAXS) and high-energy microbeam wide-angle x-ray scattering (WAXS). SAXS reveals that the alumina pore system diffracts like regularly arranged tubes with the average diameter and nearest neighbor distance of 12 nm and 20 nm, respectively. High-energy microbeam WAXS shows that perovskite nanoparticles within the nanoporous alumina have a distinctly anisotropic shape with the average particle length along and perpendicular to the pore axis of 26 nm and 13 nm, respectively. In contrast, no shape anisotropy has been detected for nanoparticles inside the silicon pores in a previous study. This suggests that utilizing nanoporous alumina has a twofold advantage. First, the tubular alumina pores, spanning the entire insulating film, offer percolated paths for the perovskite to fill. Second, the elongation of the nanoparticles in the tubular alumina pores can be expected to aid device performance as the length of the nanoparticles approaches the active layer thickness (ca. 40 nm) of LEDs, while the small diameter of the crystallites accounts for the observed blue shifted emission.

Nano-encapsulation of Oligonucleotides for Therapeutic Use

Abstract: Oligonucleotides got more and more into focus for therapeutic purposes. Administration of such molecules is a challenge, as surviving the bloodstream passage and passing the barrier cell membrane are almost insuperable tasks. Although successful clinical studies have been conducted with naked oligonucleotides, such as antisense agents or siRNA, poor cellular uptake and low cellular persistence reveal the need for adequate carriers.

Compact 3D quantum memory

Abstract: Superconducting 3D microwave cavities offer state-of-the-art coherence times and a well controlled environment for superconducting qubits. In order to realize at the same time fast readout and long-lived quantum information storage, one can couple the qubit both to a low-quality readout and a high-quality storage cavity. However, such systems are bulky compared to their less coherent 2D counterparts. A more compact and scalable approach is achieved by making use of the multimode structure of a 3D cavity. In our work, we investigate such a device where a transmon qubit is capacitively coupled to two modes of a single 3D cavity. The external coupling is engineered so that the memory mode has an about 100 times larger quality factor than the readout mode. Using an all-microwave second-order protocol, we realize a lifetime enhancement of the stored state over the qubit lifetime by a factor of $6$ with a fidelity of approximately $80\%$ determined via quantum process tomography. We also find that this enhancement is not limited by fundamental constraints.

Polymer-Based Tumor-targeted Nanosystems

Abstract: Polymer-based delivery systems for tumor targeting may revolutionize cancer therapeutic strategies by effective delivery of drugs or diagnostic agents by virtue of passive or ligand-based active targeting mechanisms. Thus polymeric carriers will hopefully surmount the drawbacks of conventional cancer therapeutics, such as undesirable biodistribution, drug resistance of cancer cells, and systemic side effects. For this purpose, intense work is underway to develop polymer-based platforms, composed of polymeric nanoparticles (NPs), polymer micelles, polymersomes, polyelectrolyte polyplexes, polymer-lipid hybrid systems, and polymer-drug/protein conjugates as a suitable option for cancer treatment. By versatile polymer chemistry, the conversion of a variety of polymers into functional carriers is possible. Although first polymeric NP systems are already approved for clinical use, the gap between the bench and the bedside remains to be enormous, mainly because of two reasons. Pharmaceutical grade production of macromolecular drug formulations sets challenging demands on precision chemistry, purification, and high-end analytics. Molecular and pharmacological heterogeneity of tumor within a patient, between different patients and between different types of cancer, have resulted in a disparity between preclinical and clinical studies. This review aims to provide a detailed insight in tumor-targeting aspects of various polymer-based nanocarrier systems, to state current trends and introduce novel concepts, presenting examples of drug delivery and bioimaging of cancer.