'Surgery' done on particles 10,000 times thinner than hair
US-based chemists have successfully conducted the first-ever site-specific 'surgery' on a nanoparticle, about 10,000 times thinner than the human hair. The "nano-surgery" was performed on a 23-gold-atom nanoparticle, reducing it to 21 atoms. The procedure increased the particle's luminescence by 10-fold and could be used to tailor nanoparticles' properties for imaging techniques.