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A highly sensitive plasmonic biosensor, based on hyperbolic metamaterials, can detect biomolecules of ultralow molecular weight at picomolar concentrations.
The self-assembly of lead sulfide nanocrystals into a body-centred cubic lattice can be tracked in real time by using in situ grazing-incidence X-ray scattering.
Cell migration can be directed by the gradient of nanoscale features in the underlying extracellular matrix, with the migration direction depending on the material properties of both the cell and the matrix.
Integrating multifunctional electronics with engineered cardiac patches enables the recording of cellular electrical activities, and on-demand provision of electrical stimulation and release of drugs.
Molybdenum sulfides are attractive electrocatalysts for the hydrogen evolution reaction. The polymeric structure of amorphous molybdenum sulfide can now be formulated as a coordination polymer based on [Mo3S132−] clusters sharing disulfide ligands.
The thickness of Ca0.5Sr0.5TiO3 is found to modify the oxygen coordination environment of SrRuO3 in the heterostructure GdScO3/Ca0.5Sr0.5TiO3/SrRuO3, also allowing the magnetic anisotropy to be tuned in the entire SrRuO3 layer.
Biodegradable, perfusable scaffolds are able to generate both in vitro cardiac and hepatic vascularized tissue models and in vivo implants for direct surgical anastomosis.
Strong oxygen octahedral coupling is found to transfer the octahedral rotation between NdGaO3 and La2/3Sr1/3MnO3, allowing manipulation of the heterostructures’ magnetic and electronic anisotropic properties by engineering the oxygen network.
Characterizing intercalation-induced changes in energy storage electrodes is challenging. A spectroscopic method based on the quartz-crystal microbalance can now simultaneously track the interfacial reliability and mechanical stability of battery electrodes.
Variations in the size of the nanocrystals and in the width of their epitaxial connections are shown to significantly affect carrier localization in superlattices formed by the oriented attachment of PbSe nanocrystals.
Designed DNA-based polyhedral frames, whose vertices are connected to nanoparticles, facilitate their self-assembly into predetermined crystalline and open three-dimensional lattices.
Topologically protected states at the interface of magnetic domain walls in a parallel plate waveguide with adjustable rods, are shown to be directed along different paths, as the waveguide geometry changes.
Antiferromagnet/ferromagnet bilayers are shown to exhibit large enough spin–orbit torque to switch the magnetization of the ferromagnetic layer without the application of external magnetic fields.
Resonant soft X-ray scattering characterization of the cuprate superconductors La1.875Ba0.125CuO4 and YBa2Cu3O6.67 shows that the orbital symmetry of the charge density waves is a key feature determining their properties.
The ability to manipulate domains in ferroelectrics offers new device opportunities. Compositional and strain gradients in a heterostructure have now been shown to enable the control of ferroelastic domain shape and mobility.
Soft biomimetic microswimmers and microrobots made of photoactive liquid-crystal elastomers and whose body shape is controlled by structured light are able to self-propel and perform complex motion patterns on demand.
The conductance of single-molecule junctions based on oligoacenes is shown to saturate when the molecule length increases. The saturation trend depends on the frontier orbitals of the metals used and on their hybridization with molecular π-orbitals.
Mechanical metamaterials can exhibit exceptional strength due to their small sizes. Now, a nanoscale lattice of glassy carbon, fabricated by shrinking a microscale lattice, has demonstrated a compressive strength of up to 3 GPa.