Research articles

Biohybrid microrobots consisting of nanoparticle-modified microalgae are constructed for active drug delivery in the lungs. In an acute bacterial pneumonia model, the microrobots effectively reduce bacterial burden and lessen animal mortality.

Laser additive manufacturing can be exploited to generate unique internally twinned nanoprecipitates in commercial titanium alloys, paving the way to fabricate ultrastrong metallic materials with intricate shapes for broad applications.

The authors use circularly polarized light pulses to trigger all-optical magnetization switching in an atomically thin ferromagnetic semiconductor. The switching process is related to spin angular momentum transfer from photoexcited carriers to local magnetic moments.

Angle tunability in twisted bilayer graphene is crucial in promoting its applications of twistronics. Here an angle replication strategy is developed to obtain centimetre-scale bilayer graphene with arbitrary twist angles.

Solid-state electrolytes are key to the development of safer and higher-energy-density batteries. Using liquid electrolyte chemistries as models for polymer electrolytes, the effect of adding a variety of porous and dense ceramic electrolytes on the conductivity is now investigated.

Halide perovskites feature highly dynamic lattices, but their impact on exciton fine structure remains unexplored. Here, the authors show that these lattices lead to a bright-exciton fine structure gap, enabling observation of quantum beats in a non-uniform ensemble.

The variation in the properties of rare earth (RE) steels is shown to stem from the presence of oxygen-based inclusions, and only under very-low-oxygen conditions can RE elements perform a vital role in purifying, modifying and micro-alloying steels.

Understanding and mitigating filament formation, short-circuit and solid electrolyte fracture is necessary for advanced all-solid-state batteries. The effect of polymorphism on the grain-level chemo-mechanical behaviour of dense and polycrystalline garnet solid electrolytes is now investigated.

Negative capacitance (NC) is a promising route towards low-power electronics. Here, a theory clarifying the connection between NC and voltage amplification is presented, and it is predicted that incipient ferroelectric states that do not necessarily maximize NC can result in a tenfold voltage amplification.

Reconstituted cytoskeleton networks linked with catch bonds display increased mechanical strength and crack resistance than those containing slip bonds, and simultaneously being more deformable, which allows for better adaptability to new mechanical environments.

The authors present evidence for the formation of commensurate charge order in non-superconducting thin films of infinite-layer nickelates, whereas they find no charge order in a superconducting film.

Collective cell migration in embryonic tissues is triggered by cell softening due to a microtubule deacetylation pathway involving the mechanosensitive ion channel Piezo1.

Understanding the ion intercalation and degradation mechanisms occurring during realistic battery operation is crucial to developing high-rate battery electrodes. Operando optical scattering microscopy is now used to study single-particle kinetic state-of-charge heterogeneities and cracking in high-rate Li-ion anode materials.

Unlike electron spins, nuclear spins in van der Waals materials remain a largely untapped quantum resource. Here we report the fast coherent control of nuclear spins and strong electron-mediated nuclear–nuclear spin coupling in hexagonal boron nitride.

The existence of fast dynamics in glass solids at low temperatures is attributed to liquid-like atoms that are inherited from high-temperature liquids and exhibit behaviour similar to that of atoms in liquid states.

Carbon nanomaterials such as graphene show intriguing molecular transport properties, but to achieve regular channels over a large area requires perfect sheet alignment. Here, a large-area two-dimensional conjugated-polymer-framework is grown with regular pore distribution, enabling 99.5% salt rejection by forward osmosis.

The role of the dielectric environment in thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) is not yet fully understood. Here the authors reveal the relevance of environment–emitter interactions in gating the reverse intersystem crossing and its particular relevance in dipolar TADF emitters.

Mechanical confinement of fibroblasts into micrometre-sized channels deforms the cell nucleus, leading to temporary nuclear lamina destablization and disassembly, loss of lamina-associated domains in chromatin and a decrease in histone and DNA methylation. These mechanically induced alterations in chromatin boost the conversion of fibroblasts into neurons and pluripotent stem cells and thus can be explored for cell engineering applications.

Two-dimensional materials can present ferroelectricity by layer sliding, but electrical confirmation is lacking due to narrow bandgaps. Here, a single-crystal coordination polymer with large bandgap enabling direct electrical measurement of P–E hysteresis is shown to present sliding ferroelectricity.

The authors investigate tunnelling magnetoresistance in Fe₃GeTe₂/hBN(WSe₂)/Fe₃GeTe₂ magnetic tunnel junctions and report strong variations with bias including polarization reversals.