Reviews & Analysis

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  • In a major advancement for synthetic biology, dynamin A has been identified as a minimal component enabling cell division in synthetic cells, moving us one step nearer to realizing the ambition of creating synthetic life forms.

    • Oskar Staufer
    News & Views
  • Two-photon lithography has advantages for precise additive manufacturing at the nanoscale, but its printing speed is currently too slow for large-scale practical applications. A sensitive photoresist based on zirconium oxide hybrid nanoparticles is shown to increase the linear printing speed of two-­photon lithography up to the order of metres per second.

    Research Briefing
  • Drawing inspiration from classical semiconductor technology, a strategy to address many quantum dots through a small number of control lines is presented. The two-dimensional array consisting of 16 germanium quantum dots can be tuned in the few-hole regime with odd charge fillings and individually addressable tunnel couplings.

    Research Briefing
  • Self-assembled single vacancies in a 2D transition metal dichalcogenide are used to fabricate atomically precise quantum antidots. The resulting antidots have tunable quantum hole states, which are robust to oxygen substitutional doping, and could have applications in quantum information and photocatalysis technologies.

    Research Briefing
  • This Review analyses the mechanisms of light extraction from perovskite light-emitting diodes and suggests new approaches towards ultrahigh electroluminescence efficiencies.

    • Baodan Zhao
    • Maria Vasilopoulou
    • Dawei Di
    Review Article
  • Three-dimensional optical imaging during battery operation reveals lithium heterogeneity at multiple length scales, challenging the look-at-one-particle approach.

    • Stephen Dongmin Kang
    • William C. Chueh
    News & Views
  • DNA-origami nanostructures self-assembled at milder physicochemical parameters in magnesium-free conditions achieve structural complexities akin to those formed by thermal annealing at elevated temperatures, and open a route to assembling DNA nanomachines in physiological conditions.

    • Elisa Franco
    News & Views
  • By integrating a 3D nanopositioner with a solid-state nanopore and surface-tethered molecules, precise spatiotemporal control over single DNA strands is achieved, enabling numerous re-reads and raising the signal-to-noise ratio far beyond previous solid-state nanopore methods.

    • Sonja Schmid
    News & Views
  • Monolayer MoS2, a two-dimensional semiconductor, was directly synthesized on polymer and ultrathin-glass substrates at 150 °C using a metal–organic chemical vapour deposition strategy. The high-quality MoS2 films enabled the construction of various integrated circuits on flexible substrates without the need for an additional transfer process.

    Research Briefing
  • Cholesterol levels in biological fluids are shown to change the composition of the protein corona affecting the biological fate of nanoparticles.

    • Negar Mahmoudi
    • Morteza Mahmoudi
    News & Views
  • Neuromorphic photodetectors are typically volatile and/or complex with multiple gates, leading to reduced energy efficiency for intelligent perception applications. Two-terminal MoS2 photodetectors have now been developed in which electrically driving the migration of sulfur vacancies enables dynamic modulation of the Schottky barriers and the realization of reconfigurable and non-volatile responsivities.

    Research Briefing
  • Integration of diverse techniques for in-plane electrokinetic control of a functionalized gold nanowire’s position and orientation enables applications in nanoscale manipulation, nano-assembly, and single-cell biochemical sensing.

    • Allison H. Squires
    News & Views