Comment in 2022

Efforts to increase diversity in quantum information science education often centre on individual minority students. The co-founder of the IBM-HBCU Quantum Center argues that more resources should go towards faculty enablement strategies targeting schools with a proven track record of graduating minorities in STEM.

Pressure-sensitive adhesives are familiar household items spanning applications in everyday repair, office supplies and topical wound care. Through innovations in material and polymer science, pressure-sensitive adhesives will advance from current commodity to new specialty materials with resulting new clinical uses and improved patient care.

Liquid metals are promising multifunctional materials, but their single-colour physical appearance limits their applicability. There are several methods to endow liquid metals with colour and fluorescence, and although breakthroughs have been made in controlling their optical and interfacial properties, more work is needed to refine the synthetic strategies, better understand the coloration effects and enable the applications of colourful liquid metals.

A group of scientists at Imperial College collaborated with The Blackett Lab Family, a collective of UK-based Black physicists, to host the UK’s first research school for Black physicists and engineers. Here they reflect on what they learnt and why we should all join in the mission to end inequality in academia.

Next-generation light-emitting displays should be not only flexible and bright but also soft and stretchable. Newly emerging light-emitting materials will enable body-conformable light-emitting devices with potential applications in a variety of fields, including displays, lighting, sensing, imaging, stimulation and therapy.

The metaverse may change the way we live and interact with one another, and its potential applications range from entertainment to health care. Extended reality is the main technology to realize the highly realistic, interactive and immersive metaverse experience, and wearable electronic devices and materials are at its core.

Organic photovoltaic cells are thin, lightweight, flexible and semi-transparent. These characteristics unlock new possibilities for applications in agriculture, architecture, wearable electronics and health science.

Rationally creating an intense colorant has been a challenge for centuries. Serendipity often played a role in the discovery of important pigments and dyes. In particular, inorganic pigments are promising because of their durability under different conditions. However, in spite of recent advancements in quantum mechanical theories and computational methods, predicting a crystal lattice that will produce an intense inorganic pigment of a desired colour is still elusive.

Electronic waste, with printed circuit boards (PCBs) at its heart, is the fastest-growing category of hazardous solid waste in the world. New materials, in particular biobased materials, show great promise in solving some of the sustainability and toxicity problems associated with PCBs, although several challenges still prevent their practical application.

Thanks to the lifespan and efficiency benchmarks set by the current generation of white light-emitting diodes (WLEDs), the lighting industry is quickly replacing traditional LEDs that use monochromatic light. Building upon research advances in framework solids for WLEDs and capitalizing on their bottom-up design principles, modular crystalline hybrids are paving paths to energy-efficient lighting alternatives.

We popularize scientific topics through the 26-episode film series Science in the City, which depicts the perception of science in Africa. We campaign in African schools, universities and public events to initiate debates on science, inviting actors and scientists to engage with audiences.

The ability to communicate clearly is an essential skill for scientists, but it is rarely taught. Katie Yurkewicz, Head of Scientific and Technical Communications at Argonne National Laboratory, shares three steps to follow to captivate an audience and craft a compelling narrative for any topic or medium.

Many graduate students experience mental health struggles that lead them to question their place in academia. Two scientists who experienced extreme lows in graduate school reflect on what helped them during their low points, and suggest strategies for everyone to contribute to mentally healthier workplaces in academia.

Producing low-carbon hydrogen to use as a clean energy carrier is an important step towards a decarbonized economy. Plasma pyrolysis is an emerging technology that has great potential for the large-scale production of low-carbon and affordable hydrogen.

Solar fuel production provides a sustainable route towards simultaneous energy harvesting and storage. However, this technology is hampered by the complexity and slow manual screening of the chemical design space to find suitable catalytic and light-harvesting materials. One solution is offered by automation, which has begun changing the landscape of material discovery and energy research.

Chemistry plays a determining role in every stage of the plastic life cycle. We reflect on the challenges and limitations of plastics — their sheer abundance, chemodiversity and imperfect recoverability leading to loss of material — and on the need for chemical and non-chemical approaches to overcome them.