Key points from article :
Nanocrystal growth method developed that controls the growth direction.
Produces programmable atomic thin layers with morphology uniformity.
Millions of nanobarcodes could form a "library" for future nanoscale sensing applications.
"Because they are chemically and optically stable, the nanoscopic barcodes can be used as carriers for drug delivery and tracking into the cell" - Dr. Wen, UTS Institute of Biomedical Materials and Devices (IBMD).
"We can selectively activate a particular region of ... a tiny device, smaller than one thousandth the width of a human hair" - Professor Dayong Jin, senior author.
Nanoscale optical devices could be simultaneously used for tagging different cellular species.
University of Technology Sydney led the research published in Nature Communications.
Image is from Blade Runner - not from UTS. In that film Deckard uses a barcoded scale from an artificial snake to track down one of the replicants.
