Research articles

Although magnetic molecules are widely investigated for their potential use in memory devices, their regular arrangement on surfaces has proven difficult. Arrays of iron atoms, linked by molecular ligands, have now been fabricated on copper surfaces. Importantly, the magnetism of the iron atoms is preserved and can be switched through oxygen adsorption.

The development of a direct ethanol fuel cell has been hampered by ethanol’s inefficient and slow oxidation. A ternary electrocatalyst consisting of platinum and rhodium deposited on carbon-supported tin dioxide nanoparticles is now shown to oxidize ethanol to carbon dioxide with high efficiency by splitting C–C bonds at room temperature.

Domain walls may be important in future electronic devices, given their small size as well as the fact that their location can be controlled. In the case of insulating multiferroic oxides, domain walls are now discovered to be electrically conductive, suggesting their possible use in logic and memory applications.

The melting of transition metals at high pressures has been subject to intensive debate, given seemingly contradictory experimental evidence. Molecular dynamics calculations now demonstrate how, at high pressure, shear induces a transition from body-centred-cubic tantalum to a one-dimensional structure, offering a plausible explanation for experimental observations.

Present Li-ion batteries for portable electronics are based on inorganic electrodes made through non-ecological processes. Sustainable conjugated dicarboxylate organic salt anodes showing advantageous reversible capacities and thermal stability are now reported.

The selective formation of cis olefins would reduce the production of unhealthy trans fats during the partial hydrogenation of edible oils. Single-crystal surfaces with well-defined supported nanoparticle catalysts now show that platinum (111) surfaces can selectively promote the non-thermodynamic isomerization of trans olefins to their cis counterparts.

Nanocrystalline materials show significantly different mechanical properties than their bulk counterparts. An in situ microscopy study of Al nanocrystals is now able to directly observe the role of dislocations in tensile deformation and uncover a sensitivity to the strain rate.

Switching between n- and p-type conduction in a semiconductor can be done through doping. A fundamentally different behaviour has now been observed in Ag₁₀Te₄Br₃, as a transition from ionic to electronic conduction is achieved simply by heating, which could be used for switches or in novel electronic devices.

Tailoring the properties of polymer nanocomposites—polymers incorporating nanoparticles—is essential to develop biomedical, or even electronic, applications. It is now shown that accurate control of the nanoparticle concentration in nanocomposites prepared from athermal mixtures considerably varies the physical properties with respect to the host polymer.

A synthetic tool that uses living polymerizations driven by epitaxial crystallization is shown to create a range of complex micelle architectures made from diblock copolymers. Platelet micelles act as initiators for the formation of scarf-like structures with micellar tassels of controlled length, grown from specific locations.

Cancer vaccines developed so far typically rely on cell manipulation techniques in the laboratory followed by re-introduction of the cells into the patient. Now, a polymeric material is shown to program and control the trafficking of immune cells in situ, resulting in specific and protective anti-tumour properties.