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What is “New Physical Insight”? Answers for the Colloidal Nanoplasmonic, Nanobio Community and Others
T
he primary criterion for publication in the Journal of Physical Chemistry, across all parts, is “new physical insight”. What exactly does this mean, in the context of my own research areas of colloidal plasmonic nanoparticles, the nanobio interface, plasmon-enhanced molecular properties, and surface chemistry?
the interactions, this kind of work is probably more appropriate for another journal. If you have questions about whether your study has sufficient “new physical insight” to be worthy of publication in J. Phys. Chem., we editors welcome your queries. But first, ask yourself about your data: “Would this make another expert in the field sit up and think?”
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Catherine J. Murphy,* Deputy Editor
WHAT WE MEAN IS: DATA THAT MAKES YOU SIT UP AND THINK Let me give you a historical example. From ∼1908 to 2005, we have known that the size and shape of colloidal gold and silver nanoparticles control the position and number of plasmon bands exhibited by the nanoparticles. We think about the plasmon bands as the result of light’s electric field interacting with loosely bound conduction band electrons in the metal in a dipolar (or higher-order quadrupolar, octopolar) way, across multiple physical axes. So data showing that semiconductor nanoparticles, when doped heavily enough, support plasmons would be new information. Indeed, starting ca. 2009, plasmons were observed in semiconducting nanoparticles, with attendant reviews and perspectives appearing in the last couple of years.1 One can anticipate that new nanoplasmonic data that would make you sit and think, along these lines, would be insulators that somehow have enough loosely bound electrons to exhibit plasmonic behavior. (And, indeed, we are starting to see such work in the literature.) However, for J. Phys. Chem., the mere observation of such bands is not quite enough: deep contextual discussion, possibly coupled with theory, provides the new physical insight we crave. Another example is in the area of colloidal nanoparticle surface chemistry. “Everyone knows” that thiols, for instance, bind well to many thiophilic nanoparticle surfaces (soft metals, metal sulfides, main group sulfides), making M−S bonds. So well-supported data showing that sulfur-containing molecules do not always react this way make you...sit up and think.2,3 Synthesis and fabrication of emerging nanomaterials, with attendant physical characterization, is an area of interest to the Journal. However, this is where "new physical insight" is crucial. Papers that show robust unexpected phenomena, confirm or refute contemporary theories of physical processes in nanomaterials, or show new capability for the field, are welcome. Papers that show a minor variation on existing synthesis, no matter how competently performed, are more suitable for other journals. Finally, the interaction of nanoparticles with biological molecules and larger biological structures is of great interest for applications in biosensors, imaging agents, and even therapeutics. J. Phys. Chem. is extremely interested in those studies that “go deep” to uncover the molecular mechanisms of such interactions. Papers that (for example) show that antibodies bound to nanoparticles bind to their expected cellular targets can be very good papers in many respects: but if there is no deep insight into the physical or chemical nature of © 2017 American Chemical Society
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Department of Chemistry, University of Illinois at Urbana−Champaign, 600 South Mathews Avenue, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States
AUTHOR INFORMATION
Corresponding Author
*E-mail:
[email protected]. ORCID
Catherine J. Murphy: 0000-0001-7066-5575 Notes
The author declares no competing financial interest.
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REFERENCES
(1) Faucheaux, J. A.; Stanton, A. L. D.; Jain, P. K. Plasmon Resonances of Semiconductor Nanocrystals: Physical Principles and New Opportunities. J. Phys. Chem. Lett. 2014, 5, 976−985. (2) Ansar, S. M.; Haputhanthri, R.; Edmonds, B.; Liu, D.; Yu, L.; Sygula, A.; Zhang, D. Determination of the Binding Affinity, Packing, and Conformation of Thiolate and Thione Ligands on Gold Nanoparticles. J. Phys. Chem. C 2011, 115, 653−660. (3) Battocchio, C.; Porcaro, F.; Mukherjee, S.; Magnano, E.; Nappini, S.; Fratoddi, I.; Quintiliani, M.; Russo, M. V.; Polzonetti, G. Gold Nanoparticles Stabilized with Aromatic Thiols: Interaction at the Molecule-Metal Interface and Ligand Arrangement in the Molecular Shell Investigated by SR-XPS and NEXAFS. J. Phys. Chem. C 2014, 118, 8159−8168.
Published: June 22, 2017 12979
DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcc.7b05313 J. Phys. Chem. C 2017, 121, 12979−12979
