Nano Dandelions: Bundles of cysteine-lead nanowires spread into highly oriented structures

Under an electron microscope they look like dandelions. In the journal Angewandte Chemie, Xiao-Fang Shen and Xiu-Ping Yan explain their nanoscopic bouquets: They consist of spread-out bundles of nanowires made of lead and the amino acid l-cysteine. The Chinese researchers have discovered a new, cost-effective method by which ordered nanostructures can be produced on a large scale, at room temperature, and under atmospheric pressure.