Nanoshell
A nanoshell is a 100 nanometer spherical shell of metal (often gold) surrounding a core of silicon dioxide atoms. Although nanoshells have been known for some time it is Naomi Halas, a professor at Rice University, who is now making use of nanoshells. Nanoshells have special optical properties with various promising applications; these applications are primarily being investigated at Rice University. Nanoshells are currently being investigated as:
- a treatment for cancer similar to chemotherapy but without the toxic side-effects
- inexpensive, quick analysis of "samples as small as a single molecule" and builds on Raman spectroscopy
Nanoshells featured in the fictional Alex Rider book Scorpia, where they were filled with cyanide to kill thousands.
This page includes material from the Wikipedia article "Nanoshell"
Text between the lines is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
