Review Articles in 2019

New materials, beyond those that have already obtained regulatory approval, are needed to improve the bioavailability of orally administered proteins. In this Review, barriers to the oral delivery of protein-based therapies are discussed, along with the current translational landscape and state of the art of materials for oral protein delivery.

The reliable operation of solid-state batteries requires stable or passivating interfaces between solid components. In this Review, we discuss models for interfacial reactions and relate the predictions to experimental findings, aiming to provide a deeper understanding of interface stability.

Clinical outcomes with implantable and degradable devices largely depend on host response. This Review surveys material options and degradation mechanisms relevant to host responses to biodegradable devices, examines clinical translation of leading biodegradable materials and proposes updated material-design strategies to improve device performance.

Recently, scaling relationships have been established between certain physical or chemical properties of heterogeneous catalytic reactions. These properties, or reactivity descriptors, can describe and predict catalytic performance, and thus enable the rational design of new catalysts.

Non-radiative recombination losses hinder the performance of perovskite solar cells, preventing them from reaching the Shockley–Queisser limit. This Review systematically analyses the origin and impact of non-radiative recombination losses and highlights notable advances in their characterization and mitigation.

Hydrogel microparticles are used for numerous biomedical applications, owing to their unique multiscale properties and design versatility. This Review discusses various hydrogel microparticle fabrication techniques and their diverse applications, ranging from cell and drug delivery to 3D printing.

This Review discusses the expansion of the field of molecular magnetism from the chemical design and physical study of single-molecule magnets and multifunctional magnetic materials towards physics- and nanotechnology-driven areas, in particular molecular spintronics, quantum technologies, metal–organic frameworks and 2D materials.

Functional mesoporous materials with architectures ranging from 0D to 3D are typically prepared using surfactant-templating methods. This Review outlines the single-micelle-directed synthesis of mesoporous materials, including low-dimensional and 3D mesoporous structures, as well as hierarchical and asymmetric mesoporous structures.

In vivo genome editing requires delivery systems that are efficient, safe and tissue specific. This Review outlines the materials and delivery strategies currently used, and the challenges and potential solutions in in vivo genome editing, aiming to stimulate further development of engineered materials for in vivo delivery of genome-editing machinery.

Pseudocapacitive materials can bridge the gap between high-energy-density battery materials and high-power-density electrochemical capacitor materials. In this Review, we examine the electrochemistry and physical signatures of pseudocapacitive charge-storage processes and discuss existing pseudocapacitive materials.

Controlling polymerization is required to fully understand and tune the function of a polymer. Alongside variables such as dispersity, molecular weight and chemical composition, the shape of the molecular-weight distribution has substantial influence on polymer properties. In this Review, we discuss methods to systematically control the shape of a polymer’s molecular-weight distribution, as well as explore the profound effects of shape on polymer properties.

Materials with a near-zero optical refractive index have stimulated much interest, as they can be used to investigate fundamental light–matter interactions. This Review surveys the wide range of near-zero-index homogeneous materials that have been explored and highlights the key experimental advancements they have enabled.

Metal–organic frameworks, when evacuated, are metastable with respect to a dense phase of the same components. Here, we review methods for kinetic stabilization of the porous phase and discuss progress in designing stable frameworks for the capture of corrosive and coordinating gases.

The charge-transfer electronic states that form at the interfaces between electron-donor and electron-acceptor components have a key role in the electronic processes in organic solar cells. This Review describes the current understanding of how these charge-transfer states affect device performance.

2D materials exhibit diverse properties and can be integrated in heterostructures: this makes them ideal platforms for quantum information science. This Review surveys recent progress and identifies future opportunities for 2D materials as quantum-dot qubits, single-photon emitters, superconducting qubits and topological quantum computing elements.

Organoids are 3D cell culture systems that mimic the structural and functional characteristics of organs. In this Review, the authors discuss the biochemical and mechanical material properties relevant for organoid formation and highlight materials designed with the aim to establish organoid cultures as powerful research platforms.

Glioblastoma is the most aggressive form of brain cancer. This Review surveys the role of biomaterials-based models of the glioblastoma microenvironment, which plays a crucial role in tumour progression, in the advancement of the understanding of the tumour–microenvironment interaction and in the development of effective treatments.

Synthetic nanopores in 2D materials are an emerging platform for power harvesting from the controlled mixing of fresh and salty water. This Review surveys their physics and materials properties and the progress in the design of new, high-density, ion-selective membrane materials.

Organic semiconductors form clean interfaces with diverse materials, including metals, other organic semiconductors, electrolytes, dielectrics and biological organisms. In this Review, we discuss the properties of these interfaces and their central role in the function of organic electronic devices.

Hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) is highly sought after for mid-IR nanophotonics, nonlinear and quantum optics, and as an efficient UV emitter. This Review surveys its fundamental physical properties, applications and synthesis.