Inside Front Cover: Conducting‐Polymer Nanotubes for Controlled Drug Release (Adv. Mater. 4/2006)

Martin and co‐workers report on p. 405 that nanotubes formed from the conducting polymer poly(3,4‐ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT), as shown on the inside cover, can be used for the controlled release of anti‐inflammatory drugs. The fabrication process includes electrospinning of a biodegradable polymer, either poly(L ‐lactide) or poly(lactide‐co‐glycolide), into which the required drug is incorporated, followed by electrochemical deposition of the conducting polymer around the drug‐loaded electrospun nanofibers. Drug release from the nanotubes is achieved by external electrical stimulation of the nanotubes.     

Inside Front Cover: Combinatorial Modification of Degradable Polymers Enables Transfection of Human Cells Comparable to Adenovirus (Adv. Mater. 19/2007)

On p. 2836, Daniel G. Anderson and co‐workers report the development of end‐modified poly(β‐amino ester)s that are able to deliver DNA to primary human umbilical vein endothelial cells at levels comparable to adenovirus at a Multiplicity of Infection between 100 and 500, and two orders of magnitude better than the commonly used non‐viral polymeric vector, poly(ethylene imine). Small structural changes were found to have dramatic effects on multiple steps of gene delivery including the DNA binding affinity, nanoparticle size, intracellular DNA uptake, and final protein expression. In vivo, these polymer modifications enhance DNA delivery to ovarian tumors.     

Inside Front Cover: A Combinatorial Library of Photocrosslinkable and Degradable Materials (Adv. Mater. 19/2006)

The first combinatorial library of degradable photocrosslinked materials is reported on p. 2614 by Anderson, Burdick, and co‐workers. The inside cover shows a three‐dimensional representation of the generic macromer, superimposed onto a microarray of materials. It is believed that this library approach will allow for the rapid screening and design of degradable polymers for a variety of applications.     

Inside Front Cover: A Combined Top‐Down/Bottom‐Up Approach for the Nanoscale Patterning of Spin‐Crossover Coordination Polymers (Adv. Mater. 16/2007)

The background scanning electron microscopy image shows nanometric patterns of the 3D spin crossover coordination polymer Fe(pyrazine)[Pt(CN)₄] (see schematic structure in the circle), which have been fabricated using a combination of lift‐off and multilayer sequential assembly methods. These patterns, reported by Gábor Molnár, Azzedine Bousseksou, and co‐workers on p. 2163, exhibit a bistability of their electronic states (¹A₁ ? ⁵T₂), and thus represent a novel platform for a wide array of potential applications.     

Inside Front Cover: Conjugated‐Polymer/DNA Interpolyelectrolyte Complexes for Accurate DNA Concentration Determination (Adv. Mater. 7/2006)

A water soluble cationic conjugated polymer that changes emission color from blue to green when going from dilute to concentrated conditions has been designed in work reported by Bazan and co‐workers on p. 878. Electrostatic complexation with anionic double‐ or single‐stranded DNA results in an increase of the local concentration of the conjugated polymer. The resulting changes in the emission spectra can be analyzed to provide an accurate determination of DNA concentration.     

Inside Front Cover: Plasma‐Assisted Synthesis of Silicon Nanocrystal Inks (Adv. Mater. 18/2007)

The inside cover shows a photo and a schematic of a two‐step nonthermal plasma process used to produced silicon nanocrystal inks, that is, stable colloidal solutions of silicon nanocrystals. In the first (upper) plasma, nanocrystals are formed through plasma‐induced dissociation of silane molecules, leading to nanocrystal nucleation through chemical clustering. In the second (lower) plasma step, organic ligands are attached in‐flight to the silicon nanocrystal surfaces. The collected powder of surface functionalized silicon nanocrystals readily forms stable colloidal solutions in nonpolar solvents, report Lorenzo Mangolini and Uwe Kortshagen on p. 2513.     

Cover Picture: Conducting and Superhydrophobic Rambutan‐like Hollow Spheres of Polyaniline (Adv. Mater. 16/2007)

Conductive and superhydrophobic rambutan‐like hollow spheres of polyaniline are formed through self‐assembly by using perfluorooctane sulfonic acid as a dopant, soft template, and superhydrophobic agent at the same time, as reported by Meixiang Wan and Lei Jiang on p. 2092. The results show that the approach used is not only simple, but also that the hollow spheres have a large specific area and exhibit physical properties that are required for many applications in nanotechnology.     

Cover Picture: Polyaniline Nanofibers Prepared by Dilute Polymerization (Adv. Mater. 13/2005)

The cover image shows a scanning electron micrograph of polyaniline/camphorsulfonic acid nanofibers synthesized using dilute polymerization. The inset shows isolated branched nanofibers with diameters of 17–50 nm. On p. 1679, Chiou and Epstein report the preparation of these polyaniline nanofibers with controlled diameters via reducing the concentrations of both monomer and oxidant.     

Inside Front Cover: Electronic Transport through Electron‐Doped Metal Phthalocyanine Materials (Adv. Mater. 3/2006)

Transport measurements for different electron‐doped metal–phthalocyanine (MPc) materials are reported by Morpurgo and co‐workers on p. 320. It is experimentally demonstrated that for these doped MPc materials, increasing the doping level results first in a metallic state and, subsequently, in the re‐entrance of an insulating state. The artist's impression on the inside cover shows an MPc film situated between two electrodes and exposed to a flux of alkali atoms in vacuum. The alkali atoms intercalate and donate electrons to the molecular material.     

Inside Front Cover: Field‐Driven Biofunctionalization of Polymer Fiber Surfaces during Electrospinning (Adv. Mater. 1/2007)

Surface‐biofunctionalized synthetic polymer fibers composed of a fiber‐forming host polymer and an oligopeptide conjugate can be prepared from electrospinning, report Spontak and co‐workers on p. 87. The conjugate consists of a polypeptide segment and a polymer block that is compatible with the host polymer. Because the more polarizable peptide segment migrates to the surface during electrospinning, peptide surface‐enrichment is achieved in a single step without further treatment.     

Inside Front Cover: Anti‐Lotus Effect for Nanostructuring at the Leidenfrost Temperature (Adv. Mater. 9/2007)

The scanning electron microscopy image (tilted, colored) shown on the inside cover depicts a ring of zinc oxide particles. This ring was obtained from a droplet of a highly diluted solution of zinc acetate by overheating on a 250°C hot silicon substrate, a method reported by Rainer Adelung and co‐workers on p. 1262. The overheating creates an explosion, which results in a spray of microscale droplets that form many rings similar to the one shown over a macroscopic substrate surface.     

Inside Front Cover: Buckled and Wavy Ribbons of GaAs for High‐Performance Electronics on Elastomeric Substrates (Adv. Mater. 21/2006)

Stretchable single‐crystalline GaAs nanoribbons and stretchable electronic devices fabricated with these ribbons are reported on p. 2857 by Sun, Rogers, and co‐workers. The inside cover shows an array of ‘wavy' GaAs nanoribbons (background) sitting on an elastomeric poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) support. Wavy and buckled ribbons integrated with metal electrodes (foreground inset) enable high‐performance, fully stretchable electronics, i.e., metal–semiconductor field‐effect transistors.     

Inside Front Cover: Macroscopic Parallel Nanocylinder Array Fabrication Using a Simple Rubbing Technique (Adv. Mater. 17/2006)

A simple rubbing technique to macroscopically align nanocylinders in an amphiphilic diblock liquid‐crystalline copolymer is reported by Ikeda and co‐workers on p. 2213. The inside cover shows highly ordered arrays of nanocylinders parallel to the rubbing direction owing to supramolecular cooperative motions between mesogens and microphase‐separated domains. This opens a novel, convenient pathway for controlling defect‐free nanoscopic domains over large areas.     

Inside Front Cover: From Coordination Polymer Macrocrystals to Nanometric Individual Chains (Adv. Mater. 14/2005)

Isolated single chains of the coordination polymer [Cd(6‐MCP)₂]_n (6‐MCP = 6‐mercaptopurinate) can be prepared by ultrasonic dispersion, ultracentrifugation, and deposition on a treated mica surface, and the mechanical and electrical properties are reported on p. 1761 by Zamora and co‐workers. The observed insulating behavior of the chains can be confirmed using density functional theory calculations. The inside cover shows atomic force microscopy images of the resultant chains at increasing magnification.     

Cover Picture: Nanostructured Electrodes and the Low‐Temperature Performance of Li‐Ion Batteries (Adv. Mater. 1/2005)

The cover image shows a scanning electron micrograph of a commercially available track‐etch polycarbonate filter. This porous membrane serves as the host for the template‐synthesis of V₂O₅ nanowires of various diameters. Nanowires that are 70 nm in diameter are shown in the inset. Because V₂O₅ reversibly intercalates Li‐ions, it has potential for use as a cathode material in Li‐ion batteries. On p. 125, Sides and Martin report the use of these V₂O₅ nanowires as tools to investigate the poor low‐temperature performance of Li‐ion batteries.