Browse Articles

Liquid metals are promising multifunctional materials, but their single-colour physical appearance limits their applicability. There are several methods to endow liquid metals with colour and fluorescence, and although breakthroughs have been made in controlling their optical and interfacial properties, more work is needed to refine the synthetic strategies, better understand the coloration effects and enable the applications of colourful liquid metals.

Wearable electronics could enable us to optimize every aspect of our personal health and performance. They might also have important ramifications for clinical use and theranostics.

An article in ACS Applied Energy Materials presents recyclable one-dimensional fibre-shaped supercapacitors for powering wearable electronic devices.

Mechanical force modulates the conformation and function of individual proteins, and this underpins many mechanically driven cellular processes. This Review addresses single-molecule force spectroscopy experiments conducted on proteins with a known role in mechanosensing and mechanotransduction in eukaryotic cells.

One of the most advanced and challenging topics in modern reticular chemistry is structure multivariation. This Perspective defines the fundamentals of multivariation by considering sequences of chemical species as its true essence, thereby addressing the classification of multivariate structures and presenting new concepts for their analysis and application.

Machine learning is poised to accelerate the development of technologies for a renewable energy future. This Perspective highlights recent advances and in particular proposes Acc(X)eleration Performance Indicators (XPIs) to measure the effectiveness of platforms developed for accelerated energy materials discovery.

An article in Nature Electronics reports a printable, stretchable on-skin sweat-sensing platform.

van der Waals ferroelectrics are different from conventional oxide or polymer-based ferroelectrics in terms of both crystal structure and functionality. This Review discusses the experimentally verified van der Waals ferroelectrics, their unique characteristics and their potential applications in post-Moore’s law electronics.

Hydrogels are one of the most promising materials to bridge the stark disparities between traditional machines and biological tissues for successful interfacing between humans and machines. This Review discusses the functional modes, design principles, and current and future applications of hydrogel interfaces for the merging of humans and machines.

An article in Nature Communications reports a range of imperceptible on-skin devices based on ultrathin, ultralight and gas-permeable 3D microstructure arrays.

An article in Nature Electronics reports a soft, reconfigurable synaptic transistor that retains functionality even when stretched by 50%.

A group of scientists at Imperial College collaborated with The Blackett Lab Family, a collective of UK-based Black physicists, to host the UK’s first research school for Black physicists and engineers. Here they reflect on what they learnt and why we should all join in the mission to end inequality in academia.

Next-generation light-emitting displays should be not only flexible and bright but also soft and stretchable. Newly emerging light-emitting materials will enable body-conformable light-emitting devices with potential applications in a variety of fields, including displays, lighting, sensing, imaging, stimulation and therapy.

The metaverse may change the way we live and interact with one another, and its potential applications range from entertainment to health care. Extended reality is the main technology to realize the highly realistic, interactive and immersive metaverse experience, and wearable electronic devices and materials are at its core.

Organic photovoltaic cells are thin, lightweight, flexible and semi-transparent. These characteristics unlock new possibilities for applications in agriculture, architecture, wearable electronics and health science.

An article in Nature Biomedical Engineering reports a soft robotic aortic sleeve that can reproduce the blood dynamics associated with aortic stenosis, acting as a reliable model for the disease.

An article in Advanced Materials presents polymer donors with hydrogen-bonding spacers that enable intrinsically stretchable organic solar cells with a high power conversion efficiency and good stretchability.