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Article
| Open AccessPrecise control over gas-transporting channels in zeolitic imidazolate framework glasses
Porosity of zeolitic imidazolate frameworks can be preserved beyond glass transition and melt processing. Here centimetre-scale porous glasses are demonstrated, whereas liquid processing enables fine-tuning of the size of the gas-transporting channels for molecular sieving.
- Oksana Smirnova
- , Seungtaik Hwang
- & Alexander Knebel
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News & Views |
All-electric writing of a chiral quantum memory
An all-electric switch of the persistent electron swirl in a quantum anomalous Hall state enables researchers to flip the electronic chirality of this quantum state.
- Philip J. W. Moll
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News & Views |
Beyond lithium for sustainable ammonia synthesis
Using an electrochemical continuous flow cell, nitrogen reduction to ammonia is rigorously demonstrated through a calcium-mediated approach.
- Michael A. Yusov
- & Karthish Manthiram
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News & Views |
Breaking symmetry creates polar auxeticity
By forming a heterostructure interface, and by judicious choice of crystallographic orientation, piezoelectrics are developed that show expansion or contraction along all axes on application of an electric field.
- Eugene A. Eliseev
- & Anna N. Morozovska
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Research Briefing |
Vibrational optical control via cation motions in perovskite solar cells
Hybrid organic–inorganic perovskite materials have promise as the photovoltaic technology of the future. A method for spectroscopic optical control reveals how the structural dynamics and vibrations of a perovskite’s organic cations affect the electronic performance of working photovoltaic devices.
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Article |
Stacking textured films on lattice-mismatched transparent conducting oxides via matched Voronoi cell of oxygen sublattice
Depositing textured functional materials on transparent conducting oxides remains a challenge. We demonstrate the formation of a coherent interface between a set of functional oxides and fluorine-doped-tin-oxide-based transparent conducting oxide substrate despite the lattice mismatch, owing to dimensional and chemical matching of oxygen sublattices at the interface.
- Huiting Huang
- , Jun Wang
- & Zhigang Zou
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Research Briefing |
Nano-oxide networks in metallic glass nanotubes lead to superelastic properties
Oxidation can degrade the properties and functionality of three-dimensional bulk metallic glasses. However, the formation of percolating oxide networks in metallic glass nanotubes or nanosheets can induce interesting properties, such as a recoverable strain of 10–20% and elastic modulus of 20–30 GPa, which are rarely observed in their bulk counterparts.
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Article
| Open AccessRevealing emergent magnetic charge in an antiferromagnet with diamond quantum magnetometry
Diamond quantum magnetometry is utilized to directly read the vorticity of antiferromagnetic spin textures through coupled multi-polar emergent magnetic charge distributions.
- Anthony K. C. Tan
- , Hariom Jani
- & Mete Atatüre
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Letter |
Oxidation-induced superelasticity in metallic glass nanotubes
Oxidation normally deteriorates the mechanical properties of metals. But it is now shown that the formation of a percolating oxide network in metallic glass nanotubes can result in an unprecedented superelasticity of 14% at room temperature.
- Fucheng Li
- , Zhibo Zhang
- & Yong Yang
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Article
| Open AccessAuxetic piezoelectric effect in heterostructures
Piezoelectrics have longitudinal and transverse piezoelectric coefficients that are opposite in sign. Here, by tuning the interface inversion asymmetry in heterostructures, auxetic systems with positive longitudinal and transverse coefficients are realized, with expansion or contraction along all directions in an electric field.
- Ming-Min Yang
- , Tian-Yuan Zhu
- & Marin Alexe
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Article
| Open AccessMultistep magnetization switching in orthogonally twisted ferromagnetic monolayers
The authors present magnetotransport measurements to demonstrate multistep magnetization switching in orthogonally twisted CrSBr ferromagnetic monolayers.
- Carla Boix-Constant
- , Sarah Jenkins
- & Eugenio Coronado
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News & Views |
Bowing to ferroelectric artificial flux closure
By inserting an epitaxial in-plane buffer layer of Bi5FeTi3O15, an artificial flux closure architecture enables ferroelectric polarization from a single unit cell of BaTiO3 or BiFeO3.
- Neus Domingo
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Research Briefing |
Click-chemistry polymer membranes for hydrocarbon mixture fractionation
Polymers made by click chemistry with spirocyclic building blocks form membranes that separate the components of crude oil based on molecular size and type, potentially using far less energy than distillation. Key enablers of this separation are moderate levels of polymer dynamic motion and frustrated chain packing.
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Research Briefing |
Near-ideal in-memory sensing and computing devices using ferroelectrics
A compact, time- and energy-efficient computing architecture — based on ferroelectric-defined reconfigurable two-dimensional photodiode arrays — is shown to be capable of in-memory sensing and computing.
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News & Views |
Quadrupolar excitons take the stage
Hybridized electron or hole states across semiconducting van der Waals monolayers in heterotrilayer systems enable the emergence of quadrupolar excitons. Quadrupolar excitons, unlike their dipolar counterparts, have a tunable static dipole moment that responds nonlinearly under an applied electric field.
- Elyse Barré
- , Medha Dandu
- & Archana Raja
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Research Briefing |
Machine-learning-accelerated selection of perovskite passivants
The discovery of passivating agents for perovskite photovoltaics can be an arduous and time-consuming process. Now, a machine-learning model is reported that accelerates the selection of bifunctional pseudo-halide passivators. The identified pseudo-halide passivators were experimentally shown to enhance the performance of perovskite solar cells.
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News & Views |
Transforming into fully commensurate bilayers
Heat treatment can transform some moiré superlattices into fully commensurate bilayers, where atoms in opposite layers align perfectly with each other. This structural transformation gives rise to markedly brighter interlayer excitons.
- Chun Hung Lui
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News & Views |
Genetically encoded protein crystals by hierarchical design
Three protein interaction surfaces are computationally designed into one protein subunit to enable their accurate assembly into three-dimensional crystals with user-specified lattice architectures.
- Eduardo Anaya-Plaza
- & Mauri A. Kostiainen
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News & Views |
All-2D electronics for AI processing
The monolithic 3D integration of wafer-free all-2D-materials-based electronics can produce an AI processor.
- Fang Wang
- & Weida Hu
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Article |
Monolithic 3D integration of 2D materials-based electronics towards ultimate edge computing solutions
Monolithic 3D integration of electronics based on fully 2D materials is demonstrated in the performance of artificial intelligence tasks.
- Ji-Hoon Kang
- , Heechang Shin
- & Sang-Hoon Bae
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Article
| Open AccessUltrafast vibrational control of organohalide perovskite optoelectronic devices using vibrationally promoted electronic resonance
Optically stimulated vibrational control for materials has the potential to improve the performance of optoelectronic devices. The vibrational control of FAPbBr3 perovskite solar cells has been demonstrated, where the fast dynamics of coupling between cations and inorganic sublattice may suppress non-radiative recombinations in perovskites, leading to reduced voltage losses.
- Nathaniel. P. Gallop
- , Dmitry R. Maslennikov
- & Artem A. Bakulin
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Article |
Autonomous indication of electrical degradation in polymers
Early detection of electrical degradation in dielectric polymers is crucial but remains challenging. A general strategy of blending the polymer with chromogenic molecules is reported, which generates a visually discernible colour change as chemically activated by oxygen radicals generated in situ, indicating the early stage of electrical degradation in polymers.
- Xiaoyan Huang
- , Shuai Zhang
- & Jinliang He
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Research Briefing |
Physical reservoir computers that can adapt to perform different tasks
A traditional physical-reservoir device has limited flexibility and cannot perform well across a range of computing tasks, owing to the fixed reservoir properties of the physical system. However, by exploiting the rich magnetic phase spaces of a single chiral magnet, reservoir properties can be reconfigured. This control enables on-demand optimization of computational performance across diverse machine-learning tasks.
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Article |
Atomically precise photothermal nanomachines
Gold nanoclusters show promise as photothermal materials, but are often thermally unstable. Here ligand engineering is used to integrate molecular rotors with gold nanoclusters to dissipate thermal energy and improve photothermal therapy performance.
- Jing Chen
- , Peilin Gu
- & Chunhai Fan
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Article
| Open AccessTask-adaptive physical reservoir computing
Current physical neuromorphic computing faces critical challenges of how to reconfigure key physical dynamics of a system to adapt computational performance to match a diverse range of tasks. Here the authors present a task-adaptive approach to physical neuromorphic computing based on on-demand control of computing performance using various magnetic phases of chiral magnets.
- Oscar Lee
- , Tianyi Wei
- & Hidekazu Kurebayashi
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Article |
Quasi-open Cu(i) sites for efficient CO separation with high O2/H2O tolerance
Chemical adsorption of CO on open metal sites enables separation from other gases but leads to selectivity and stability issues. Quasi-open metal sites in metal–organic frameworks are proposed here, which are accessible only by CO-induced structural transformation, enabling CO separation to 9N purity.
- Xue-Wen Zhang
- , Chao Wang
- & Jie-Peng Zhang
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Article |
Localized high-concentration electrolytes get more localized through micelle-like structures
Liquid electrolytes in batteries are considered to be macroscopically homogeneous ionic transport media despite having a complex chemical composition and atomistic solvation structures. A micelle-like structure in a localized high-concentration electrolyte for which the solvent acts as a surfactant is reported.
- Corey M. Efaw
- , Qisheng Wu
- & Bin Li
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Article |
Colloidal quasicrystals engineered with DNA
The rational design and assembly of colloidal quasicrystals is achieved by exploring the hybridization of nanoscale decahedra nanoparticles functionalized with DNA linkers.
- Wenjie Zhou
- , Yein Lim
- & Chad A. Mirkin
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Article |
Compact angle-resolved metasurface spectrometer
Employing a miniaturized spectrometer that combines a metasurface-based spectrometer array and a metalens, angle-resolved spectral imaging is achieved with a wavelength accuracy of 0.17 nm, spectral resolution of 0.40 nm and angular resolution of 4.88 × 10−3 rad for a spectrometer with a 4 × 4 μm2 footprint.
- Guiyi Cai
- , Yanhao Li
- & Qinghai Song
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Article |
Active learning guides discovery of a champion four-metal perovskite oxide for oxygen evolution electrocatalysis
Multi-metal and perovskite oxides are attractive as oxygen evolution electrocatalysts, and thus far the most promising candidates have emerged from experimental methodologies. Active-learning models supplemented by structural-characterization data and closed-loop experimentation can now identify a perovskite oxide with outstanding performance.
- Junseok Moon
- , Wiktor Beker
- & Bartosz A. Grzybowski
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Editorial |
Electronics can be more sustainable
Integrated design assisted by materials and technology innovations can help a transition from traditional to sustainable electronics.
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Article |
Anion optimization for bifunctional surface passivation in perovskite solar cells
Pseudo-halide anion engineering is an effective surface passivation strategy for perovskite-based optoelectronics but the large chemical space of molecules limits its potential. Here, the authors create a machine learning workflow to find optimized pseudo-halide anions, which are verified in devices with improved performances.
- Jian Xu
- , Hao Chen
- & Edward H. Sargent
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Article |
Percolation-induced gel–gel phase separation in a dilute polymer network
A dilute water–polymer mixture exhibits a percolation-induced gel–gel phase separation, resulting in a two gel co-continuous substrate, which is used for adipose tissue development.
- Shohei Ishikawa
- , Yasuhide Iwanaga
- & Takamasa Sakai
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News & Views |
Magnetic proximity boosts chiral quantum emission
Chiral single-photon emitters are desirable, versatile tools for quantum information processing. Exploiting proximity to a strain-induced local magnetic field in the van der Waals antiferromagnet NiPS3 enables the emission of high-purity chiral single photons from monolayer WSe2 at zero external magnetic field.
- Jing Tang
- & Xi Ling
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News & Views |
Deciphering polymer networks
An approach to analyse the deformation behaviour of polymer networks provides an enhanced set of structural information, improving our understanding of the elasticity of soft materials.
- Michael Lang
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News & Views |
Faster holes by delocalization
Terahertz photoconductivity measurements coupled with theoretical modelling reveals that thermal transient excitations to more delocalized states enhances hole mobility in organic molecular semiconductors.
- Zhigang Shuai
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News & Views |
Revived superconductivity in twisted double bilayer graphene
By stacking few-layer WSe2 in proximity to twisted double bilayer graphene, researchers report solid evidence of superconductivity.
- Wei Yang
- & Guangyu Zhang
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News & Views |
Seriously non-thermal thermodynamics
Non-equilibrium thermodynamics describes activity-stabilized mixed states in complex active-matter systems.
- Tian Huang
- , Qi Pan
- & Steve Granick
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Article |
Elastic microphase separation produces robust bicontinuous materials
Production of bulk bicontinuous materials is limited by the ability to make uniform microarchitectures across large volumes. Here elastic microphase separation is used to fabricate bicontinuous materials with a homogeneous microstructure, with feature sizes tuned by the matrix stiffness.
- Carla Fernández-Rico
- , Sanjay Schreiber
- & Eric R. Dufresne
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Article |
Calcium-mediated nitrogen reduction for electrochemical ammonia synthesis
The production of ammonia via the Haber–Bosch process is carbon-intensive and centralized, but electrochemical methods such as lithium-mediated processes in organic electrolytes could enable decentralized production using renewable energy. Calcium is now shown to mediate nitrogen reduction for ammonia synthesis.
- Xianbiao Fu
- , Valerie A. Niemann
- & Ib Chorkendorff
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Article |
Nanoconfined polymerization limits crack propagation in hysteresis-free gels
Simultaneously highly elastic and deformable gels that maintain their mechanical properties have remained elusive. Here, using in situ polymerization confined within nanochannels, the authors prepare hysteresis-free gels insensitive to crack propagation.
- Weizheng Li
- , Xiaoliang Wang
- & Feng Yan
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Comment |
The organic electrochemical transistor conundrum when reporting a mixed ionic–electronic transport figure of merit
An essential part of developing organic mixed ionic–electronic conducting materials and organic electrochemical transistors is consistent and standardized reporting of the product of charge carrier mobility and volumetric capacitance, the μC* product. This Comment argues that unexpected changes in transistor channel resistance can overestimate this figure of merit, leading to a confusion of comparisons in the literature.
- Maryam Shahi
- , Vianna N. Le
- & Alexandra F. Paterson
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Article |
Pro-regenerative biomaterials recruit immunoregulatory dendritic cells after traumatic injury
Pro-regenerative biomaterials for the treatment of muscle injury induce the proliferation of a dendritic cell population associated with cross-presentation and self-tolerance, promoting a pro-regenerative immune environment to aid muscle wound healing.
- Ravi Lokwani
- , Aditya Josyula
- & Kaitlyn Sadtler
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Article |
Electrical switching of the edge current chirality in quantum anomalous Hall insulators
Thermally assisted spin–orbit torque is used to switch the edge current chirality in mesoscopic quantum anomalous Hall devices.
- Wei Yuan
- , Ling-Jie Zhou
- & Cui-Zu Chang
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Article |
Observation of quadrupolar and dipolar excitons in a semiconductor heterotrilayer
The authors report the emergence of quadrupolar excitons in angle-aligned WSe2/WS2/WSe2 heterotrilayers characterized by a delocalized hole residing in both outer WSe2 layers, electric-field tunability and reduced exciton–exciton interactions.
- Leo Yu
- , Kateryna Pistunova
- & Tony F. Heinz
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Article |
Quadrupolar–dipolar excitonic transition in a tunnel-coupled van der Waals heterotrilayer
The authors report the emergence of quadrupolar excitons in WS2/WSe2/WS2 trilayer heterostructures where the electron is layer-hybridized in WS2 layers and the hole localizes in WSe2. Quadrupolar excitons exhibit distinct behaviour under electric fields, enriching exciton–exciton interactions.
- Weijie Li
- , Zach Hadjri
- & Ajit Srivastava
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Article |
Sequencing polymers to enable solid-state lithium batteries
Solid polymer electrolytes are crucial for the development of lithium batteries, but their lower ionic conductivity compared with liquid/ceramics at room temperature limits their practical use. Precise positioning of designed repeating units in alternating polymer sequences now allows the Li+ conductivity to be tuned by up to three orders of magnitude.
- Shantao Han
- , Peng Wen
- & Mao Chen
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Article |
Accurate computational design of three-dimensional protein crystals
The process of protein crystallization is poorly understood and difficult to program through the primary sequence. Here the authors develop a computational approach to designing three-dimensional protein crystals with prespecified lattice architectures with high accuracy.
- Zhe Li
- , Shunzhi Wang
- & David Baker
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Article |
Solution-processable polytriazoles from spirocyclic monomers for membrane-based hydrocarbon separations
Thermal fractionation of petroleum consumes large amounts of energy. Here stable microporous polymers are synthesized using click chemistry, which have similar performance to commercial polyimides for the fractionation of light crude oils and successful application to heavy feeds under realistic conditions.
- Nicholas C. Bruno
- , Ronita Mathias
- & M. G. Finn