'Nanodumbbells' for Self-Assembly Nanostructures

Roland Piquepaille writes "A group of chemists at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem has developed 'nanodumbbells' — gold-tipped nanocrystals which can be used as building blocks for future electronic devices. These 'nanodumbbells', which are shaped like mini-weightlifting bars, will apparently solve two nanotechnological problems: assembling billions of nanocrystals into a single integrated electrical circuit; and provide good electrical contact. And they will be used to create self-assembling chain structures of nanocrystals. This overview provides other details, pictures and references about this project. [Additional note, totally unrelated to the scientific content: there is not a single reference to 'nanodumbbells' by Google, at least right now when I'm typing this.]"