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Replacing platinum with metal–nitrogen–carbon catalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction in proton exchange membrane fuel cells has been impeded by low activity. These limitations have now been overcome by the trans-metalation of Zn–N4 sites into Fe–N4 sites.
Silica beads encapsulating DNA information and functionalized with DNA labels create an alternative DNA data storage system, where direct random access and data retrieval are enabled by complementary fluorescent strands that identify beads for separation in fluorescence-activated sorting.
Changes in dielectric constant due to intimate mixing of thiophene molecules with different gaps between ionization energy and electron affinity induce gap variations at the single-particle level, finely tunable by controlling the mixture ratio.
Silicon is a light element with high lattice inversion symmetry, and so is not expected to possess a substantial spin–orbit interaction (SOI), which is desirable for spintronics. Here, a silicon-based heterostructure is demonstrated to have a gate-tuneable Rashba-type SOI.
Submicrometre-sized amorphous silicon samples show an unusually large tensile strength relative to the compressive strength, which is due to the reduced shear modulus and the activation energy barrier for shear transformations under compression.
Metal oxides or carbonaceous supported atomic metal sites coordinated by oxygen or heteroatoms exhibit enhanced electrocatalytic activity. Stabilization of single-atom catalysts on tungsten carbides without heteroatom coordination for efficient oxygen evolution reaction is demonstrated.
Angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy is used to track the evolution of the electronic band structure of TaSe3 across a strain-driven topological phase transition.
A model describing the behaviour of charge carriers in semiconducting polymers both in the hopping-like and metal-like regimes is developed, and used to quantify charge carrier localization and other transport parameters in organic semiconductors.
Interfaces play crucial, but still poorly understood, roles in the performance of secondary solid-state batteries. Using crystallographically oriented and highly faceted thick cathodes, the impact of cathode crystallography and morphology on long-term performance is investigated.
A coherent condensate of exciton–polaritons, extending spatially up to 4 µm and spin-polarizable with an external magnetic field, is observed at cryogenic temperatures in a MoSe2 monolayer embedded in a vertical microcavity.
Charged colloidal systems undergo fast crystallization under deep supercooling due to a coupled mechanism involving the discrete advancement of the crystal growth front and defect repair inside the recently formed solid phase.
Developing safe electrolytes compatible with high-energy-density electrodes is key for the next generation of lithium-based batteries. Stable solid-state rigid-rod polymer composite electrolytes with nanocrystalline lithium ion pathways are now proposed.
A framework for the elastohydrodynamic lubrication between soft patterned surfaces identifies the contributions of substrate elasticity and pattern geometry for friction, which have implications for the engineering of haptic soft materials.
First-principles calculations reveal that hydrogen vacancies induce non-radiative losses in methylammonium lead iodide perovskites synthesized under iodine-poor conditions, whereas they are less detrimental in formamidinium-based hybrid perovskites.
Stacked elastomeric arrays containing plasmonic nanoparticles show efficient chiral responses that can be fully controlled by mechanical compression and stack rotation. These simple layered materials may be useful modulators for photonic applications.
Adducts of dimethyl sulfoxide and hydrobromic acid demonstrate efficient p-doping of various organic semiconductors and compatibility with other counterions used to improve stability and other performance parameters of organic-based optoelectronic devices.