Chemistry in Pictures: Nanocabbage

This nanomaterial has a leafy appearance, but in fact, it’s made of thin sheets of an inorganic material that grow around one another. Himanshu Panda, a PhD scholar at the Institute of Nano Science and Technology, created these cabbage-looking containers precisely because of all those layers. Between the “leaves” of the nanostructure—which are actually made of a magnesium-iron layered double hydroxide—he can stash drug molecules that can then be released at a specific site in the body for use in targeted therapies. Panda focuses mainly on applications related to neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease, but he says the particle could be used to mop up pollution in the environment as well.

Submitted by Himanshu Panda. Follow him on Instagram @scientific_mazdoor.

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