3-D nanostructures with patterned surfaces for drug delivery, electronics, and other applications have been made by Johns Hopkins University chemists.

They created arrays of patterned, cross-shaped nickel structures on a silicon wafer, then added tin hinges. When placed in a plasma etching chamber, the flat structures folded up into cubes and released from the wafer. To make nanocubes as small as 100 nanometers a side, the researchers added another panel.

(ACS/Nano Letters)