Let the Sun shine - p825

doi:10.1038/nmat2303

There is more than enough power available from the Sun to satisfy the world's needs, so why are we not rushing to exploit it?

Full Text - Let the Sun shine | PDF (335 KB) - Let the Sun shine

Two million hours of science - pp827 - 830

G. N. Greaves, C. R. A. Catlow, G. E. Derbyshire, M. I. McMahon, R. J. Nelmes & G. van der Laan

doi:10.1038/nmat2305

After over a quarter of a century, the doors of the world's first synchrotron radiation source have closed. Its contribution to materials science in the past and the future should not be underestimated.

Full Text - Two million hours of science | PDF (476 KB) - Two million hours of science

In search of a theory of supercooled liquids - pp831 - 833

Steven A. Kivelson & Gilles Tarjus

doi:10.1038/nmat2304

Despite the absence of consensus on a theory of the transition from supercooled liquids to glasses, the experimental observations suggest that a detail-independent theory should exist.

Full Text - In search of a theory of supercooled liquids | PDF (205 KB) - In search of a theory of supercooled liquids

Sensitive, switchable, productive... - p834

doi:10.1038/nmat2306

Full Text - Sensitive, switchable, productive... | PDF (198 KB) - Sensitive, switchable, productive...

Photovoltaics: Solar cells on curtains - pp835 - 836

Zhiyong Fan & Ali Javey

doi:10.1038/nmat2312

Crystalline silicon solar cell arrays on flexible, transparent substrates may lead to unconventional new applications.

Full Text - PhotovoltaicsSolar cells on curtains | PDF (198 KB) - PhotovoltaicsSolar cells on curtains

Drug delivery: The heart of the matter - pp836 - 837

David Putnam

doi:10.1038/nmat2309

A polymeric delivery vehicle, with neutral degradation products, keeps inflammation at bay during sustained drug release following myocardial infarction.

Full Text - Drug deliveryThe heart of the matter | PDF (204 KB) - Drug deliveryThe heart of the matter

Material witness: A twisted tale - p837

Philip Ball

doi:10.1038/nmat2307

Full Text - Material witnessA twisted tale | PDF (158 KB) - Material witnessA twisted tale

Ionic conductors: Feel the strain - pp838 - 839

John A. Kilner

doi:10.1038/nmat2314

The high temperatures required for oxygen ion conductivity have hampered the development of practical applications of ionic conductors. Now superlattices made of yttria-stabilized zirconia and strontium titanate show promise for room-temperature devices.

Full Text - Ionic conductorsFeel the strain | PDF (230 KB) - Ionic conductorsFeel the strain

Dielectric materials: Gels excel - pp839 - 840

Antonio Facchetti

doi:10.1038/nmat2310

Printing electronic circuits will usher in a new era in electronics. With ion gel dielectrics, unprecedented transistor performance and speeds at low voltage can be demonstrated.

Full Text - Dielectric materialsGels excel | PDF (245 KB) - Dielectric materialsGels excel

Carbon nanotubes: Doped defects tracked down - pp840 - 841

Marcus Freitag

doi:10.1038/nmat2308

Single doped defects in carbon nanotubes locally modify the energies of charge carriers and lattice vibrations. They can now be detected by inelastic light-scattering experiments.

Full Text - Carbon nanotubesDoped defects tracked down | PDF (202 KB) - Carbon nanotubesDoped defects tracked down

Glasses: When disorder helps - pp842 - 843

Giancarlo Ruocco

doi:10.1038/nmat2311

Amorphous solids show intriguing universal behaviour whose origins often remain poorly understood. One of these features, the boson peak, is now shown to be directly linked to transverse vibrations.

Full Text - GlassesWhen disorder helps | PDF (297 KB) - GlassesWhen disorder helps

Ceramic materials: Levitating liquids - pp843 - 844

Paul F. McMillan

doi:10.1038/nmat2313

Refractory ceramic liquids studied by containerless levitation and synchrotron X-ray scattering reveal an unusual density-driven liquid–liquid phase transition.

Full Text - Ceramic materialsLevitating liquids | PDF (216 KB) - Ceramic materialsLevitating liquids

Materials for electrochemical capacitors - pp845 - 854

Patrice Simon & Yury Gogotsi

doi:10.1038/nmat2297

Abstract - | Full Text - Materials for electrochemical capacitors | PDF (1,005 KB) - Materials for electrochemical capacitors

Electric-field-induced superconductivity in an insulator - pp855 - 858

K. Ueno, S. Nakamura, H. Shimotani, A. Ohtomo, N. Kimura, T. Nojima, H. Aoki, Y. Iwasa & M. Kawasaki

doi:10.1038/nmat2298

Increasing the carrier density of a material to the limit at which superconductivity can be induced has been a long-standing challenge. This is now realized in an insulator by using an electric-double-layer gate in an organic electrolyte.

First Paragraph - | Full Text - Electric-field-induced superconductivity in an insulator | PDF (646 KB) - Electric-field-induced superconductivity in an insulator | Supplementary information

Subject Categories: Electronic materials | Optical, photonic and optoelectronic materials | Nanoscale materials

Electron-trapping polycrystalline materials with negative electron affinity - pp859 - 862

Keith P. McKenna & Alexander L. Shluger

doi:10.1038/nmat2289

The trapping of electrons by grain boundaries in semiconducting and insulating materials is important for a wide range of devices such as sensors, and solar and fuel cells. First-principles calculations on MgO, LiF and NaCl reveal a novel type of electron trapping at grain boundaries associated with the negative electron affinity of these materials.

First Paragraph - | Full Text - Electron-trapping polycrystalline materials with negative electron affinity | PDF (516 KB) - Electron-trapping polycrystalline materials with negative electron affinity

Subject Categories: Ceramics | Computation, modelling and theory

Sustained release of a p38 inhibitor from non-inflammatory microspheres inhibits cardiac dysfunction - pp863 - 868

Jay C. Sy, Gokulakrishnan Seshadri, Stephen C. Yang, Milton Brown, Teresa Oh, Sergey Dikalov, Niren Murthy & Michael E. Davis

doi:10.1038/nmat2299

A new polymer is investigated as a drug-delivery vehicle for the treatment of inflammatory diseases, such as cardiac dysfunction. The biocompatibility, neutral degradation products and controlled-release properties of the polyketal microparticles indicate the material's promising future in inflammation inhibition.

First Paragraph - | Full Text - Sustained release of a p38 inhibitor from non-inflammatory microspheres inhibits cardiac dysfunction | PDF (792 KB) - Sustained release of a p38 inhibitor from non-inflammatory microspheres inhibits cardiac dysfunction | Supplementary information

Subject Categories: Polymers | Biomedical materials

See also: News and Views by Putnam

Universal link between the boson peak and transverse phonons in glass - pp870 - 877

Hiroshi Shintani & Hajime Tanaka

doi:10.1038/nmat2293

A universal feature of disordered glasses is the appearance of the so-called boson peak in neutron-scattering experiments. A universal link between this boson peak and transverse phonons has now been discovered, and linked to locally favoured structures in the glass.

Abstract - | Full Text - Universal link between the boson peak and transverse phonons in glass | PDF (763 KB) - Universal link between the boson peak and transverse phonons in glass | Supplementary information

Subject Categories: Glasses | Colloids | Computation, modelling and theory

See also: News and Views by Ruocco

Electron and phonon renormalization near charged defects in carbon nanotubes - pp878 - 883

Indhira O. Maciel, Neil Anderson, Marcos A. Pimenta, Achim Hartschuh, Huihong Qian, Mauricio Terrones, Humberto Terrones, Jessica Campos-Delgado, Apparao M. Rao, Lukas Novotny & Ado Jorio

doi:10.1038/nmat2296

Defects can significantly alter the physical properties of materials. A detailed experimental analysis of defects in carbon nanotubes enables the relationship between the atomic response and the broadly available macrosopic behaviour to be captured.

Abstract - | Full Text - Electron and phonon renormalization near charged defects in carbon nanotubes | PDF (585 KB) - Electron and phonon renormalization near charged defects in carbon nanotubes | Supplementary information

Subject Categories: Electronic materials | Optical, photonic and optoelectronic materials | Nanoscale materials

See also: News and Views by Freitag

Tunnelling spectra of individual magnetic endofullerene molecules - pp884 - 889

Jacob E. Grose, Eugenia S. Tam, Carsten Timm, Michael Scheloske, Burak Ulgut, Joshua J. Parks, Héctor D. Abruña, Wolfgang Harneit & Daniel C. Ralph

doi:10.1038/nmat2300

To enable the development of devices based on the electrical manipulation of magnetic molecules, their magnetic state needs to be conserved when electrical contacts are applied. N@C₆₀ molecules have now been integrated as part of single-molecule transistors, and their spin states retained. This achievement may lead towards their use in high-density information storage and quantum-state control.

Abstract - | Full Text - Tunnelling spectra of individual magnetic endofullerene molecules | PDF (480 KB) - Tunnelling spectra of individual magnetic endofullerene molecules

Subject Categories: Electronic materials | Nanoscale materials

Pressure-dependent structures of amorphous red phosphorus and the origin of the first sharp diffraction peaks - pp890 - 899

Joseph M. Zaug, Alan K. Soper & Simon M. Clark

doi:10.1038/nmat2290

Characterizing medium-range order in disordered solids and liquids is crucial for elucidating their structure and transport properties, but it has so far proved difficult. Using a combination of X-ray diffraction and Raman scattering, the pressure-dependent and atomic-void structure of amorphous red phosphorous is determined.

Abstract - | Full Text - Pressure-dependent structures of amorphous red phosphorus and the origin of the first sharp diffraction peaks | PDF (3,314 KB) - Pressure-dependent structures of amorphous red phosphorus and the origin of the first sharp diffraction peaks | Supplementary information

Subject Categories: Design synthesis and processing | Characterisation and analytical techniques

Printable ion-gel gate dielectrics for low-voltage polymer thin-film transistors on plastic - pp900 - 906

Jeong Ho Cho, Jiyoul Lee, Yu Xia, BongSoo Kim, Yiyong He, Michael J. Renn, Timothy P. Lodge & C. Daniel Frisbie

doi:10.1038/nmat2291

Flexible electronics require that all parts can be printed on plastic substrates, but finding materials that can act as high-capacitance dielectrics is a priority. An emerging class of polymer electrolytes, ion gels, can do the job—with high capacitance and at low voltage.

Abstract - | Full Text - Printable ion-gel gate dielectrics for low-voltage polymer thin-film transistors on plastic | PDF (1,137 KB) - Printable ion-gel gate dielectrics for low-voltage polymer thin-film transistors on plastic | Supplementary information

Subject Category: Electronic materials

See also: News and Views by Facchetti

Ultrathin silicon solar microcells for semitransparent, mechanically flexible and microconcentrator module designs - pp907 - 915

Jongseung Yoon, Alfred J. Baca, Sang-Il Park, Paulius Elvikis, Joseph B. Geddes, III, Lanfang Li, Rak Hwan Kim, Jianliang Xiao, Shuodao Wang, Tae-Ho Kim, Michael J. Motala, Bok Yeop Ahn, Eric B. Duoss, Jennifer A. Lewis, Ralph G. Nuzzo, Placid M. Ferreira, Yonggang Huang, Angus Rockett & John A. Rogers

doi:10.1038/nmat2287

In a device design that brings mechanical flexibility to silicon photovoltaics, Jongseung Yoon, Alfred J. Baca and colleagues demonstrate how transfer-printing of ultrathin silicon films onto flexible substrates leads to semitransparent and large-scale arrays of integrated solar microcells with high solar-energy conversion efficiencies of 6–8%.

Abstract - | Full Text - Ultrathin silicon solar microcells for semitransparent, mechanically flexible and microconcentrator module designs | PDF (1,228 KB) - Ultrathin silicon solar microcells for semitransparent, mechanically flexible and microconcentrator module designs | Supplementary information

Subject Categories: Optical, photonic and optoelectronic materials | Materials for energy

See also: News and Views by Fan & Javey

Metal hydrides for lithium-ion batteries - pp916 - 921

Y. Oumellal, A. Rougier, G. A. Nazri, J-M. Tarascon & L. Aymard

doi:10.1038/nmat2288

Conversion electrodes for lithium-ion batteries are capable of high capacity but low energy efficiency and low voltages are problematic. The electrochemical reactivity of MgH₂ with Li shows promise in using metal-hydride electrodes for both lithium-ion-battery and hydrogen storage applications.

Abstract - | Full Text - Metal hydrides for lithium-ion batteries | PDF (586 KB) - Metal hydrides for lithium-ion batteries

Subject Categories: Materials for energy | Nanoscale materials

Ferroelectricity near room temperature in co-crystals of nonpolar organic molecules - p922

Sachio Horiuchi, Fumiyuki Ishii, Reiji Kumai, Yoichi Okimoto, Hiroaki Tachibana, Naoto Nagaosa & Yoshinori Tokura

doi:10.1038/nmat2294

Full Text - Ferroelectricity near room temperature in co-crystals of nonpolar organic molecules | PDF (148 KB) - Ferroelectricity near room temperature in co-crystals of nonpolar organic molecules