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Protocells are synthetic cell-like entities that mimic distinct cellular functions. A synthetic prototissue based on an interlinked protein–polymer protocells community that shows reversible contractibility is now reported.
Dense suspensions of hard particles readily display discontinuous shear thickening under shear but not reversible shear jamming. Here it is shown that the formation of interparticle hydrogen bonds is crucial for the shear jamming of these suspensions.
Ultrafast water transport in the surface of Sarracenia trichome is reported and demonstrated in synthetic bioinspired materials, where nano- and microchannels induce high-speed sliding of droplets on top of a thin water film.
The electromechanical properties of organic–inorganic hybrid perovskites are not well characterized. Here, a large electrostrictive strain of 1% is measured, suggesting both new electromechanical applications and implications for photovoltaics.
Bimetallic nanoparticles with tailored structure constitute a desirable model system for catalysts. PtAu nanoparticles with Pt single-atom surface sites, prepared by a colloidal method, exhibit unprecedented electrocatalytic activity for formic acid oxidation.
Molecular dynamic simulations reveal that the rapid crystal growth in pure metals is governed by a barrierless ordering process, correlating to the inherent crystalline structure in the liquid at the growth interface.
Phase transformations driven by compositional change require mass flux across a phase boundary. Lithium migration in LiXFePO4 along the solid/liquid interface now suggests that surface diffusion contributes to tuning phase transformation in anisotropic solids.
Magnetocaloric effects can be used for refrigeration, but application uptake is limited due to large amounts of magnetic material used. Here, a cooling cycle is shown that uses thermal hysteresis, significantly reducing magnetic material quantity.
Reversible structural surface relaxation under laser exposure is observed for monolayers of 2D metal halide perovskites. These structural changes also induce reversible shifts in the photoluminescence peaks of these materials.
A systematic analysis is performed to reveal how deposition conditions and the use of cations and solvents affect the composition and orientation of 2D and quasi-2D metal halide perovskites in thin films.
The model alloy of Au–Ag is studied to decouple the role of stress and corrosion in intergranular cracking caused by metal dissolution. Nanoporous corrosion layers can mechanically inject a crack into grain boundaries of the parent phase.
A system of patterned graphene nanoresonators/nanoribbons can be used as an efficient mid-infrared detector, based on plasmonic resonant absorption and subsequent carrier thermalization.
Combined multimodal atomic force microscopy, ion microscopy, ion mass spectrometry and infrared spectrometry experiments explore the chemical properties of ferroelastic twin domains in hybrid lead halide perovskites.
A thorough analysis of the optical and transport properties of several two-dimensional organic conductors and insulators with varying on-site correlation strengths and bandwidths led to a quantitative phase diagram for pristine Mott insulators.
A large spin–orbit torque, generated in a conductive topological insulator (TI) Bi0.9Sb0.1 is further employed to effectively switch the magnetization of MnGa in a BiSb/MnGa bilayer Hall-bar device at room temperature.
Robust structural superlubricity is experimentally realized in microscale monocrystalline graphite/hBN heterojunctions. The friction anisotropy upon crystal reorientation is orders of magnitude smaller than that of homogeneous graphite contacts.