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An article in Advanced Materials reports the synthesis of high-quality single-crystalline 2D tellurium flakes and their use in high-performance field-effect transistors.
An article in Nature Electronics reports the integration of a ferroelectric gate with a transition metal dichalcogenide heterostructure in a device that can work both as a reconfigurable logic switch and as a neuromorphic device.
A paper in Nature Nanotechnology reports a residue-free method to transfer wafer-scale flakes of transition metal dichalcogenides and its use to fabricate high-performance field-effect transistors.
Sorption working pairs, which can convert low-grade heat into cold energy or seasonally store thermal energy, are potential future carbon-neutral materials for thermal management. This Comment highlights the superiorities of metal–organic framework (MOF)–ammonia working pairs for adaptable thermal management under extreme climates and discusses strategies to design MOFs with high stability and ammonia sorption capacity.
Nature provides an endless source of inspiration for advanced materials, fuelled by evolutionary innovations over many millions of years. Capitalizing on this wealth of biological solutions requires an approach to materials innovation that is informed by a holistic understanding of multi-functional biological systems and leverages the defining feature of the natural world — diversity.
Active learning and automation will not easily liberate humans from laboratory workflows. Before they can really impact materials research, artificial intelligence systems will need to be carefully set up to ensure their robust operation and their ability to deal with both epistemic and stochastic errors. As autonomous experiments become more widely available, it is essential to think about how to embed reproducibility, reconfigurability and interoperability in the design of autonomous labs.
An article in Nature Nanotechnology reports a nanopore-based single-molecule sensing method that allows control over the translocation speed of the measured molecule.
An article in Advanced Materials reports an entropy tuning strategy to design sodium-ion battery electrolytes that adapt to low temperatures, enabling rechargeable batteries that work in the extreme cold.
An article in Nature Nanotechnology reports ferroelectric field-effect transistors that are compatible with Si complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor back-end-of-line processes.
Today’s world is filled with ‘grand challenges’ that cannot be solved with knowledge from a single academic field, and interdisciplinary learning opportunities at the undergraduate level are important to overcome barriers between fields. This article takes some of the lessons learned from the co-development and co-teaching of an interdisciplinary course on climate change at the University of Waterloo in Canada to offer suggestions on how to incorporate interdisciplinary education in the materials science and engineering undergraduate curriculum, while providing practical advice on how to create opportunities for students to become interdisciplinary thinkers.
A paper in Nature Nanotechnology reports the room-temperature generation and control of meron–antimeron pairs in an antiferromagnet by means of electrical pulses.
An article in the New Journal of Chemistry reports the synthesis of a chiral metal–organic framework that can be used to separate limonene enantiomers.
An article in Nature Chemistry reports the use of a single-molecule junction to monitor the individual steps of a Michael reaction in real time through the chirality-induced spin selectivity effect.