Cover Picture: Graphene Oxide Wrapping of Gold–Silica Core–Shell Nanohybrids for Photoacoustic Signal Generation and Bimodal Imaging (ChemNanoMat 1/2015)

Wrapping nanomaterials with graphene oxide (GO) has evolved as a new strategy for the preparation of advanced hybrid materials. In their Full Paper on page 39, which is featured on the Front Cover, Vadakke Matham Murukeshan, Yanli Zhao and co-workers successfully demonstrate that GO wrapping of gold–silica core–shell nanoparticles leads to a novel nanohybrid, which shows photoacoustic signal generation for fluorescent and photoacoustic bimodal imaging. Shape-Controlled Synthesis In their Focus Review on page 18, which is featured on the Inside Cover, Sara Skrabalak and co-workers discuss the design principles involved in aerosol-assisted molten salt syntheses of compositionally complex metal oxide nanomaterials. This technique can generate high-quality nanocrystals by spatially and temporally confining their growth within droplets. Heterogeneous Catalysis In their Full Paper on page 58, which is featured on the Back Cover, Wingkei Ho, Jiaguo Yu and co-workers show that hierarchical macro-mesoporous Pt/NiO hollow microspheres can be used for catalytic decomposition of formaldehyde (a major indoor air pollutant) in air at room temperature. The 400 °C-calcined hollow spheres exhibit the highest catalytic activity due to the presence of bimodal macro-mesoporous structures, which not only provide large specific surface areas, leading to high HCHO adsorption capacity and good Pt dispersion, but also enable fast diffusion and gas molecule transport and ensure the accessibility of the active sites on Pt nanoparticles.