Browse Articles

Thermomechanical stability is a limiting factor when scaling-up perovskite solar cells. This Perspective discusses several aspects of device design that control thermomechanical degradation, including adhesion of layers and encapsulation, and the importance of accelerated degradation testing.

Rare-earth engineering is an effective way to introduce and tune magnetism in topological materials. Here, titanium-based kagome metals RETi₃Bi₄ (RE = Yb, Pr, and Nd) are synthesized and characterized, whereby changing the rare earth atoms in zig-zag chains the magnetism can be tuned from nonmagnetic YbTi₃Bi₄ to short-range ordered PrTi₃Bi₄ and finally to ferromagnetic NdTi₃Bi₄.

Wearable sensors have been widely studied, but research has tended to focus on their use in adults. This Review explores skin-interfacing smart health systems that are designed with infants and neonates in mind.

Silicon spin qubits are promising for the realisation of scalable quantum computing platforms but their coherence times in natural silicon are limited by the non-zero nuclear spin of the ²⁹Si isotope. Here, enriched ²⁸ Si down to 2.3 ppm residual ²⁹Si is obtained by focused ion beam implantation.

Nonlinear memory devices such as memristors, memcapacitors, and meminductors, are the building blocks of energy-efficient neuromorphic computing. Here, the authors propose a superconducting circuit design acting as a microwave quantum memcapacitor, which could be implemented in neuromorphic quantum computing architectures.

The tetragonal tungsten bronzes are promising for high-temperature energy storage applications but the mechanisms for their broad dielectric responses are unclear. Here, a comprehensive experimental and theoretical study of Sr₂NaNb₅O₁₅ explains its two large dielectric anomalies in terms of structural transitions.

Ammonia production from dinitrogen is challenging due to the harsh reaction conditions required and significant energy consumption. Here, this Review discusses how plasmonic materials can offer an energetically and ecologically desirable solution to dinitrogen reduction.

Ternary alloys of rare-earths and transition metals exhibit complex ferrimagnetic behavior as a function of alloy compositions. Here, X-ray magnetic circular dichroism of the Gd₆(Mn_1−xFe_x)₂₃ series is used to explain the composition dependence of sublattice Curie temperatures in terms of element-specific magnetic moment evolution.

Magnetic Josephson junctions are important for studying the interplay between superconductivity and ferromagnetism. Here, an inverse proximity effect with tunable nanoscale spin ordering at the superconductor/ferromagnet interface of Nb-permalloy structures is observed, confirming theoretical predictions on these systems.

Due to their plasmonic properties, silver nanoparticles are promising across a vast range of applications, from physics instrumentation to biomedicine and environmental science. Here, the photon-to-heat conversion efficiency of individual nanoparticles is elucidated by designing and fabricating an ultra-sensitive bolometer with 26 pW power resolution.

Self-assembly of small nanoparticles is difficult to control and the resultant structures have weak stability. Here, a general centimeter-scale superlattice assembly strategy for noble metal nanoparticles of less than 15 nm is used to yield stable hexagonal close-packed monolayers.

Liquid marbles make use of surface particles to contain a water droplet, via a core-shell structure. Here, the fabrication of liquid marbles with a small quantity of surface polystyrene particles is demonstrated, and their rolling behavior on surfaces is studied.

Commercial adiabatic demagnetisation refrigerators are typically based on hydrated salts that are subject to corrosion and have poor thermal conductivity and low entropy at sub-Kelvin temperatures. Here, YbNi_1.6Sn is identified as a metallic magnetocaloric which retains high entropy into the 100 mK regime, providing an economical and durable alternative to magnetic refrigeration.

Infrared colloidal quantum dots are interesting due to their low-cost fabrication and wavelength tunability for optoelectronic applications. Here, air-stable low-noise mid-infrared photodiode devices are fabricated using hole-doped Ag-HgTe nanocrystals.

Material properties prediction from a given microstructure is important for accelerated design but a comprehensive methodology is lacking. Here, a multi-method machine learning approach is utilized to understand the processing-structure-property relationship for differently processed porous materials.

The recent claim of near-ambient superconductivity in nitrogen-doped lutetium hydrides has sparked great excitement and strong controversies in the community. Here, a comprehensive first-principles calculations study predicts the stability and critical temperatures of Lu-N-H compounds based on their composition and applied pressure.

Neural circuitry is important for comprehending computational mechanisms and physiology of the brain but controlling neuronal connectivity and response in 3D is challenging. Here, titanium carbide MXene-coated 3D polycaprolactone scaffolds are demonstrated to effectively control neuronal interconnection.

Martensite in Ti-6Al-4V is known to decompose under heating. This study employs rapid laser heating in situ in a synchrotron to study changes in the diffraction profiles during the martensite decomposition process.

Interest in protein-based fibers is driven by their unique properties, including biocompatibility and biodegradability. This Review summarizes the synthesis and properties of biomimetic protein fibers, such as keratin, collagen, elastin and silk fibers, and their application in energy, air and water treatment, and biomedical uses.

Polyimides are attractive dielectrics for communication devices, but there is a need to reduce their high-frequency dissipation factor. Here, a series of polyimides are fabricated and characterized, finding that those that contain ester groups and ether bonds in their molecular structure have low dissipation factors.