Volume 14 Issue 10, October 2015

A supramolecular polymer that is stable in the acidic environment of the stomach but dissolves in the neutral-pH environment of the intestines prolongs the safe retention of gastric devices.

Ultrathin, flexible and lightweight perovskite solar cells with improved stability in air can now power model airplanes for several hours.

Molecular layers show antiferromagnetic ordering up to room temperature and are able to exchange bias a ferromagnetic electrode, demonstrating that molecules could be much more than a simple vehicle for transporting spin.

Negative pressure in ferroelectric nanowires has been achieved by exploiting a phase transformation between crystal structures with differing densities, leading to substantial property enhancement.

Collective cell migration and jamming in the bronchial epithelium helps to understand the pathophysiology underlying asthma.

Advanced microscopy techniques provide unique insight into a material's structure. This Progress Article discusses how the application of big, deep and smart data to image analysis might permit the design of materials with advanced functionality.

Antiferromagnetic order at room temperature is stabilized in Mn phthalocyanine layers in contact with a cobalt layer. In addition, the molecular layer pins the inorganic ferromagnetic layer through exchange bias at low temperature.

It is shown that a phase change to a denser crystal structure in PbTiO₃ nanowires creates a negative-pressure stress state, which is effective in enhancing ferroelectric performance.

Femtosecond optical spectroscopy and single-shot electron diffraction measurements during the photoinduced amorphization of the phase-change material Ge₂Sb₂Te₅ demonstrate that optical properties can be separated from the structural state.

Although WO₃ thin films are promising as electrodes for electrochromic devices, they suffer from degradation of optical modulation. Ion-trapping-induced degradation can now be successfully eliminated by constant-current-driven de-trapping.

The temperature-mediated modulation of anisotropic electrostatics in response to changes of electrostatic permittivity in a hydrogel consisting of cofacially oriented electrolyte nanosheets imparts the hydrogel with actuation properties.

Superconductivity below 14 K in the vicinity of a metal–insulator transition at about 11 GPa is shown for the iron-based spin-ladder material BaFe₂S₃, a Mott insulator with striped-type magnetic ordering below ∼120 K.

An ultraslow-fluid-like unit cell composed of acoustic channels, arranged in a zigzag shape, exhibits various tunable Mie resonances. It is used for the construction of a highly reflective metasurface that can efficiently block low-frequency sound.

The growth of stanene on bismuth telluride has been achieved using molecular beam epitaxy. Photoemission spectroscopy and theoretical calculations are used to investigate the effects of the substrate on the electronic properties of the Sn layers.

Achieving a Li-ion conductivity in the solid state comparable to existing liquid electrolytes is challenging. A fundamental relationship between anion packing and ionic transport now reveals desirable structural attributes for Li-ion conductors.

The use of a chromium oxide interlayer separating the perovskite film from the metal contacts improves the stability of perovskite solar cells in air. Deposited on thin plastic foils, these ultralight devices power model airplanes and dirigibles.

Cell shape provides a structural signature for the classification and investigation of the jamming of bronchial epithelial layers in asthma.

Vascular smooth muscle cells can harness fluctuations in external cyclic stretching by altering their cytoskeletal organization and the associated mitochondrial network.

An ultrasensitive method that uses a genetically engineered bacteriophage to bind miRNA in a one-to-one manner allows the counting, by the naked eye, of miRNA molecules at attomolar concentrations on Petri dishes.

A supramolecular elastic polymer that is stable in the acidic environment of the stomach but dissolves in the neutral-pH environment of the intestines is shown to function as a safe gastric-retentive device in pigs.