Volume 20 Issue 5, May 2021

Large reversible shear strain has been achieved by electric-field-driven bipolar switching in a hybrid ferroelectric, facilitating development of shape-memory-type actuators with outstanding figures of merit.

Ionizable phospholipids have been developed to enhance the delivery of mRNA and sgRNA for gene editing by selective organ targeting and endosomal membrane destabilization.

Deposition of a one-atom-thick layer of Ag or Cu on Au electrodes proves to be an effective strategy to tune the band alignment and conductivity of molecular junctions.

Hybrid materials constructed from the assembly of inorganic building blocks and organic linkers have shown unique properties and applications. Superstructures of semiconductor magic-sized nanoclusters linked by diamines now join this class of materials.

Conjugated sulfonamides have been demonstrated as cathodes with high redox potentials and exceptional atmospheric stability, providing a sustainable alternative to traditional inorganic materials used in commercial lithium-ion batteries.

This perspective describes recent developments in genetically encoded protein contrast agents for non-invasive biological imaging, namely ultrasound, magnetic resonance and optoacoustic imaging modalities.

This Review highlights the progress that has been made in the development of diagnostic tools for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 in the fight against COVID-19.

Non-thermal lattice control of exchange interactions allows for picosecond coherent switching between competing antiferromagnetic and weakly ferromagnetic order.

Reversible strains are widely used in high-technology systems, with piezoelectrics showing fast response but low strain. Here, ferroelectric C₆H₅N(CH₃)₃CdCl₃ is shown to produce a strain of 21.5%, two orders of magnitude larger than other piezoelectrics, due to organic molecules preventing 180° polarization switching.

Diffuse X-ray scattering with femtosecond resolution shows the formation and relaxation of polaronic distortions in halide perovskites. These structural changes are also quantified and correlated to transient changes in carrier effective mass.

Stretch-induced alignment of graphene sheets is frozen by sequential covalent and π–π bridging, leading to high in-plane isotropic strength of 1.55 GPa. The graphene sheets are fabricated at near room temperature and are scalable.

Source-material purification and optimized vacuum chamber design lead to a breakthrough in GaAs sample quality.

An orbital polarization effect is proposed to understand chiral-induced spin selectivity.

The moiré pattern that is formed between well-aligned graphene and hexagonal boron nitride can modify the properties of WSe₂ (placed close by without intentional angle alignment), leading to the formation of a mini Brillouin zone and the folding of the bands in WSe₂.

Assembly of magic-sized nanoclusters into suprastructures leads to enhanced luminescence and catalytic activity for CO₂ conversion while substantially extending their ambient stability.

Coating Au electrodes with Ag or Cu monolayers is shown to improve molecule–electrode binding and electrical conductivity of single-molecule junctions as a result of the tuning of the surface d bands of the metal.

The applicability of organic materials in conventional Li-ion batteries is challenging owing to the lack of lithium-containing and air-stable cathodes. A class of conjugated sulfonamides to be used as lithium-ion positive electrodes is now shown to exhibit reversible charge storage.

Structure–activity relationships built on descriptors of surfaces can help to design electrocatalysts, but their identification for electrochemically driven surface transformations is challenging. The composition of LaNiO₃ thin film surfaces can now dictate surface transformation and activity of the oxygen evolution reaction.

Epitaxially grown 3D DNA masks with prescribed geometry, pitch and size improve the resolution of reactive ion etching-based nanolithography, scaling the line pitch down to 16.2 nm and the critical dimension size to 7.2 nm.

A symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast is used to fabricate bacterial cellulose-based living materials that respond to external cues and adapt their structural and functional properties, with implications for sensing and catalytic applications.

Ionizable phospholipid nanoparticles have been designed to efficiently destabilize endosomal membranes and mediate organ-selective mRNA delivery and CRISPR–Cas9 gene editing.