Volume 22 Issue 4, April 2023

Zhi-Wei Shan, a professor at Xi’an Jiaotong University (School of Materials Science and Engineering), talks to Nature Materials about the non-negligible impact of trace impurities in metallic structural materials.

Scientists have realized Weyl modes by exposing a topological insulator to large magnetic fields. Their effort enriches the toolbox to design, engineer and manipulate topological materials for physics research and materials applications.

The arrangement of magnetic ions between layers of NbS₂ affects it as though a giant magnetic field is applied in different directions for electrons moving with opposite velocities. This discovery goes beyond the reach of conventional magnets, and opens up the way to custom-made effective fields engineered to guide materials into new territory.

A bioengineered model incorporating a synthetic extracellular matrix recapitulates the lymphoid tumour microenvironment, making it a valuable tool for drug testing and designing personalized therapies.

Using low-temperature scanning tunnelling microscopy on a MoSe₂/few-layer graphene heterostructure enables localized exciton generation and mapping with atomic-scale spatial resolution.

An artificial neuron architecture based on antiambipolar organic electrochemical transistors shows responses to biological ions and neurotransmitters akin to real neurons with comparable speed. The soft and more biocompatible nature of organic semiconductors could enable applications in brain–machine interfaces and in vivo sensing.

A second-harmonic generation approach enables the direct measurement of the potential of zero charge at electrochemical interfaces.

A general method by controlling reaction kinetics is proposed to synthesize 67 kinds of two-dimensional crystal with custom-made phases and compositions, in particular, Fe- and Cr-based (layered and non-layered) chalcogenides and phosphorous chalcogenides, which show interesting ferromagnetism and superconductivity properties.

Outstanding resistance to destructive radiation damage in structural alloys is realized by ultra-high-density reversible nanoprecipitate inclusions, and the improvement is attributed to the reordering process of low-misfit superlattices in highly supersaturated matrices.

Scandium added to Al–Cu–Mg–Ag alloys leads to an in situ phase transformation of coherent Cu-rich nanoprecipitates at elevated temperature, with Sc atoms diffusing and occupying their interstitial sites. The transformed nanoprecipitates have enhanced thermal stability while maintaining a large volume fraction and these two microstructural features enable high tensile strength of the Al alloy with creep resistance up to 400 °C.

Spectroscopic and structural measurements often give conflicting results about the role of disorder in determining the properties of energy materials. A hybrid neutron scattering technique is used to measure atomic correlations in time and space for cubic GeTe, revealing that anisotropic elastic interactions mimic disorder but the time-averaged structure is crystalline.

We report the observation of narrowband terahertz emission from a quasi-one-dimensional charge-density-wave insulator, (TaSe₄)₂I. The origin of the emitted radiation is interpreted as a phason that obtains mass due to the long-range Coulomb interaction.

High-density, highly stable coherent nanoprecipitates are created in Al alloys that enable high strength and creep resistance at 400 °C. This is realized via a growth-ledge-triggered in situ phase transformation assembling slow-diffusing solutes with high-solubility solutes into nanoprecipitates.

The cycling disordering–ordering transition of low-misfit superlattice nanoprecipitates in metallic materials continuously annihilates radiation defects via a short-range atom-reshuffling process, giving rise to high radiation tolerance.

A competitive-chemical-reaction-based growth mechanism by controlling the kinetic parameters can easily realize the growth of transition metal chalcogenides and transition metal phosphorous chalcogenides with different compositions and phases.

The authors study the electronic structure of the intercalated transition metal dichalcogenide V_1/3NbS₂, showing that its bulk magnetism can lead to a strong tunability of spin–valley locked states at its surface.

Nickelate superconductivity has so far been limited to thin films, raising questions about the role of the polar substrate–film interface. Here the authors utilize advanced characterization techniques to reveal the interfacial atomic structure and its relevance for superconductivity.

The authors propose a method for the scalable manufacturing of metalenses using deep-ultraviolet argon fluoride immersion lithography and wafer-scale nanoimprint lithography, opening a route towards their low-cost, high-throughput mass production.

Tip-induced excitonic luminescence nanoscopy of an atomically resolved van der Waals heterostructure.

Optically detected magnetic resonance of nitrogen vacancy centres in diamond enables the detection of pressure-induced phase transitions, but interpreting their magnetic resonance spectra remains challenging. Here the authors propose implanted silicon vacancy defects in 4H-SiC for in situ magnetic phase detection at high pressures.

Redox-active non-conjugated radical polymers are promising candidates for metal-free aqueous batteries but their energy storage mechanism in an aqueous environment remains unclear. The role of the electrolyte in such polymers for designing metal-free aqueous energy storage electrodes is now elucidated.

The electric field created at an electrode–electrolyte interface can polarize the electrode’s surface and nearby molecules. Although its effect can be countered by an applied potential, quantifying the value of this potential is difficult. An optical method for determining the potential of zero charge at an electrochemical interface is now presented.

A hydrogel-based modular lymphoma organoid identifies how lymphoid microenvironment cues dampen the effect of MALT1 inhibitors and informs effective combination therapies to rescue the treatment response