The wavelength of light represents a fundamental technological barrier to the production of increasingly smaller features on integrated circuits. New technologies that allow the replication of patterns on scales less than 100 nm need to be developed if increases in computing power are to continue at the present rate. Here we report a simple electrostatic technique that creates and replicates lateral structures in polymer films on a submicrometre length scale. Our method is based on the fact that dielectric media experience a force in an electric field gradient. Strong field gradients can produce forces that overcome the surface tension in thin liquid films, inducing an instability that features a characteristic hexagonal order. In our experiments, pattern formation takes place in polymer films at elevated temperatures, and is fixed by cooling the sample to room temperature. The application of a laterally varying electric field causes the instability to be focused in the direction of the highest electric field. This results in the replication of a topographically structured electrode. We report patterns with lateral dimensions of 140 nm, but the extension of the technique to pattern replication on scales smaller than 100 nm seems feasible.

Optical surfaces coated with a thin layer to improve light transmission are ubiquitous in everyday optical applications as well as in industrial and scientific instruments. Discovered first in 1817 by Fraunhofer, the coating of lenses became standard practice in the 1930s. In spite of intensive research, broad-band antireflection coatings are still limited by the lack of materials with low refractive indices. A method based on the phase separation of a macromolecular liquid to generate nanoporous polymer films is demonstrated that creates surfaces with high optical transmission.

The development of synthetic nanomotors for technological applications in particular for life science and nanomedicine is a key focus of current basic research. However, it has been challenging to make active nanosystems based on biocompatible materials consuming nontoxic fuels for providing self-propulsion. Here, we fabricate self-propelled Janus nanomotors based on hollow mesoporous silica nanoparticles (HMSNPs), which are powered by biocatalytic reactions of three different enzymes: catalase, urease, and glucose oxidase (GOx). The active motion is characterized by a mean-square displacement (MSD) analysis of optical video recordings and confirmed by dynamic light scattering (DLS) measurements. We found that the apparent diffusion coefficient was enhanced by up to 83%. In addition, using optical tweezers, we directly measured a holding force of 64 ± 16 fN, which was necessary to counteract the effective self-propulsion force generated by a single nanomotor. The successful demonstration of biocompatible enzyme-powered active nanomotors using biologically benign fuels has a great potential for future biomedical applications.

During unequal cell divisions a mitotic spindle is eccentrically positioned before cell cleavage. To determine the basis of the net force imbalance that causes spindle displacement in one-cell Caenorhabditis elegans embryos, we fragmented centrosomes with an ultraviolet laser. Analysis of the mean and variance of fragment speeds suggests that the force imbalance is due to a larger number of force generators pulling on astral microtubules of the posterior aster relative to the anterior aster. Moreover, activation of heterotrimeric guanine nucleotide- binding protein (Gprotein) alpha subunits is required to generate these astral forces.