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Current technologies of bioinspired and neuromorphic electronics still lack a universal framework for integration into everyday life. This Perspective highlights how bioinspired electronics with soft electrochemical matter based on organic mixed conductors can potentially enable the integration of diverse forms of intelligence everywhere.
Carbon nanotubes are used in a growing number of applications, but recent European Union actions propose to ban them. This Perspective highlights gaps in knowledge regarding potential safety and environmental risks throughout the life cycle of carbon nanotubes and provides a framework to inform policy decisions.
Organic photovoltaics show promising efficiencies and attractive properties, but their commercialization is limited by their poor operational stabilities. In this Perspective, the authors examine how bottom-up molecular design can be applied to organic semiconducting materials to achieve improved device stability.
Phosphors are important for optimizing the energy efficiency and colour quality of modern light-emitting diode light bulbs and displays. This Perspective article discusses the optical properties required for a phosphor to be viable for commercialization and the synthetic and data-driven methods that have been developed to accelerate the discovery of phosphor materials with these properties.
The interactions between macrophages and endothelial cells are regulated by microenvironmental cues in the extracellular matrix. This Perspective highlights recent advances in using biomaterials as extracellular matrix to mimic macrophage–endothelium niches and to regulate cell fate in tissue homeostasis and disease progression.
Sodium-ion batteries (SIBs), an emerging type of sustainable battery, still need to be recycled for environmental and economic reasons. Strategies to recycle spent SIBs should be made during the initial stages of commercialization to ensure that SIBs are designed for ease of recycling, efficiency and low operation costs. This Perspective article summarizes the material components of SIBs, discusses strategies for their recycling and outlines the associated challenges and future outlook of SIB recycling.
Integrating single-functional fibre devices into multifunctional systems can enable promising wearable applications. This Perspective article summarizes challenges and strategies for the design, fabrication and assembly of fibre electronic systems, highlighting specifications for real applications.
Engineered materials with intrinsic chirality can affect biological processes from cell uptake to nerve repair. This Perspective article discusses the design and function of intrinsically chiral carbon dots, metal-based materials and patterned geometries, highlighting the different effects of the two enantiomers on biological responses.
Two-dimensional perovskites with phase-pure structures have considerable potential for optoelectronic applications because of their reduced defects, flattened energy landscape and enhanced lattice protection. This Perspective article investigates advancing progress on achieving phase-pure perovskite by tailoring the precursor interactions and preparation methods and discusses their prominent optoelectronic properties and applications.
Halide perovskite light-emitting diodes display excellent optoelectronic properties and are easy to fabricate. This Perspective article discusses the potential of perovskite emitters for the miniaturization of perovskite light-emitting diodes and provides a technical roadmap for the fabrication of microscale emitting devices.