Volume 16 Issue 5, May 2017

Thermally activated defects in a blue-emitting phosphor can enhance energy transfer to the activator, and compensate for thermal quenching.

By combining an electron-counting camera with low-energy transmission electron microscopy, it is possible to directly image the surface structure of delicate metal–organic framework crystals and their coherent interfaces.

The use of a spectroscopy technique called pump–push–probe electro-absorption provides insight into the energetic landscape of nanostructured donor–acceptor interfaces in bulk-heterojunction organic solar cells.

Molecular spintronics is an interdisciplinary field at the interface between organic spintronics, molecular magnetism, molecular electronics and quantum computing, which is advancing fast and promises large technological payoffs.

This Perspective discusses the spin-dependent properties emerging at the interfaces of molecular and inorganic materials, and describes possible future developments for spin-based technologies.

An engineered topological insulator-based heterostructure is reported to show transport properties consistent with the realization of an axion insulator.

The use of monolayers of hexagonal boron nitride as the cationic diffusion barrier and graphene aerogel mixed with spiro-OMeTAD as the hole transport layer allows the fabrication of graded bandgap perovskite solar cells with high efficiency.

Mesoporous metal–organic frameworks containing unsaturated Cr(III) sites are able to thermodynamically and selectively capture nitrogen from mixtures with oxygen and methane.

The operational conditions used for electron microscopy can limit the insight that can be gained from fragile material samples. It is shown here how high-resolution TEM analysis of delicate MOFs can be achieved.

By pairing a paramagnetic enhancer with a superparamagnetic quencher, their distance-dependent interaction can be applied to image biological processes using MRI.

A blue-emitting phosphor without thermal quenching is reported. The emission losses at high temperatures are compensated by a counter mechanism, originating in energy transfer between electron–hole pairs and thermally activated defect levels.

A pump–push–probe time-resolved technique is developed to characterize the dynamics of photoexcitations at buried, disordered interfaces. Applied to organic bulk heterojunctions, the method provides insight on charge separation in photovoltaic films.

Dynamic restructuring behaviour and composition changes in bimetallic and nanoporous gold–silver alloys correlate to catalytic activity.

Coherent diffractive imaging during hydriding of palladium nanocrystals reveals that phase nucleation begins after dislocation nucleation at the phase boundary for large particles. The hydrogen-rich phase resembles a spherical cap.

Garnet-type electrolytes are attractive for lithium metal batteries due to their high ionic conductivity. A strategy to decrease interfacial impedance between a lithium metal anode and garnet electrolyte is found promising for all-solid-state batteries.

For high-capacity electrodes with anionic redox, the importance of structural dimensionality has not been elucidated. The possibility of triggering anionic redox activity in a tridimensional-ordered Li-rich positive electrode is now demonstrated.

Increased cellular expression of RAB5A, an important regulator of endocytic processes, brings epithelial cells from a jammed state to coordinated motion, and can facilitate wound closure, gastrulation and migration in constrained environments.