Reviews & Analysis

Use of graphene in a transistor configuration offers an alternative to metal electrodes for the recording of ultraslow neural potentials that occur in neurologic diseases.

Higher-order topological acoustic metamaterials on kagome lattices, which host topologically protected corner states, can confine sound at corners. This may lead to applications of acoustic metamaterials in local acoustic field enhancement, trapping and manipulating of particles, and acoustic sensing and probing.

Electro-optic modulators based on epitaxial barium titanate integrated on silicon can reach speeds up to 50 Gbit s^–1.

Hydrogen from surface-based electrolysis is implicated in the operation of high-speed magneto-ionic devices. Functionalizing this discovery, a new family of potentially high-speed, high-efficiency ionic devices is born.

Electrolyte gating of complex oxides enables substantial control of electronic phase transitions, allowing electrical control of complex phenomena. Here, the role of both electrostatic and electrochemical mechanisms in this process is elucidated.

A crystal structure with one-dimensional order is identified in oxide ceramics, which is distinguished from the well-known categories of solid structures and potentially provides unexpected properties.

Structural transitions departing from the known phases of MoTe₂ are induced by applying a vertical electric field to multilayers of this material. These distorted structures show distinct conducting states that can be used for resistive memories.

Macrophage confinement reduces the ‘late’ inflammatory gene response to lipopolysaccharide through myocardin-related transcription factor, an actin-binding transcription factor.

A method to selectively grow pure metallic-phase monolayer transition metal dichalcogenides marks an important step towards industrially viable nano-(opto)electronic technologies based on two-dimensional materials and their hierarchical assemblies.

Sputtering brittle bismuth telluride onto webs of single-walled carbon nanotubes creates a reliably flexible, high-performance thermoelectric composite.

An elastomer sheet with programmed inner channel architecture swiftly shapes into a desired three-dimensional geometry upon the application of pressure.

By combining metal ions, organic linkers and polymers, ordered frameworks with controlled crystallite size can form. When fabricated into membranes, they combine superlative CO₂/N₂ separation properties with good hydrolytic stability.

Although precipitates’ compositions are theoretically determined by thermodynamics, their formation kinetics can also lead to composition variations that allow further structural evolution, making the precipitation path more complex.

Ferroelectric polarization enables the emergence and control of magnetic skyrmions at an oxide interface.

A rigid and easily scalable metal–organic framework is shown to be among the most efficient materials for separating ethylene from ethane.

Biomaterials have been utilized widely to study cellular mechanotransduction. This Review discusses how cells respond to mechanical cues elicited by a range of biomaterial characteristics via YAP/TAZ mechanosensitive transcriptional factor activity.

An amphipathic peptide has been engineered and is capable of penetrating the blood–brain barrier as well as possessing a potent antiviral activity against Zika and other mosquito-borne viruses.