Design, synthesis and processing articles within Nature Communications

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  • Article |

    The geometry of periodic plasmonic nanostructures in three dimensions can be exploited to give tailored optical properties. Here, the authors study the role of anisotropy on the nano- and mesoscale to provide a framework for designing the optical response of metamaterials formed from plasmonic building blocks.

    • Michael B. Ross
    • , Martin G. Blaber
    •  & George C. Schatz

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Carbon monoxide clathrate hydrate has been widely studied and although the structure-II gas hydrate is predicted to be thermodynamically favourable, it is the structure-I hydrate that has been observed. Here, the authors synthesize the structure-II carbon monoxide hydrate and probe its structure and formation.

    • Jinlong Zhu
    • , Shiyu Du
    •  & Yusheng Zhao

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Nanowire photodetectors offer a high sensitivity arising from their geometry that makes them of interest for optoelectronic devices. Here, the authors demonstrate the printable fabrication of ZnO nanowires with high detectivity, making them suitable for high-performance flexible electronics applications.

    • Xi Liu
    • , Leilei Gu
    •  & Zhiyong Fan

  • Article |

    Lumped circuit elements provide a simple tool to design complex electronic systems; a similar approach has been proposed for nanophotonics. Here, the authors demonstrate the modularized design and assembly of photonic nanocircuits using metal and dielectric nanoparticles as the constituent lumped elements.

    • Jinwei Shi
    • , Francesco Monticone
    •  & Andrea Alù

  • Article |

    Achieving a high degree of control over the self-assembly process is a challenging task, but one that can give access to precisely defined structures. Here, the authors show the generation of hybrid materials with controlled morphology and hierarchy based on the assembly of block copolymers on silica cores.

    • Lin Jia
    • , Guangyao Zhao
    •  & Mitchell A. Winnik

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Metal nanocrystals are used in an ever growing list of applications, but precise control and understanding of their formation can be difficult. Here, the authors show a route that allows the controlled formation of metal nanocrystals to be carried out and observed at an atom-by-atom level.

    • Nicolas P. E. Barry
    • , Anaïs Pitto-Barry
    •  & Peter J. Sadler

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Colloidal self-assembly at liquid interfaces has important emulsion applications, for food, household or personal care products, and drug encapsulation. Here, the authors develop a method of forming patchy heterogeneous capsules by electro-coalescence of multiple liquid drops.

    • Zbigniew Rozynek
    • , Alexander Mikkelsen
    •  & Jon Otto Fossum

  • Article |

    Shape-controlled synthesis of nanoparticles traditionally involves kinetic growth around seed surfaces. Here, the authors are able to fabricate smaller nanoparticles via thermodynamic-driven etching in reverse micelle reactors, yielding monodisperse hollow nanoparticles with concave frameworks and sharp edges.

    • Zengyan Wei
    •  & Hiroshi Matsui

  • Article |

    Colloidal quantum dots are promising materials for efficient low-cost solar cells and optoelectronics, but their performance does not improve with increased carrier mobility. Here, the authors show instead that the spacing between recombination centres controls the diffusion length.

    • David Zhitomirsky
    • , Oleksandr Voznyy
    •  & Edward H. Sargent

  • Article |

    Novel materials synthesized under extreme conditions can challenge long-held views of fundamental chemistry. Santoro et al. combine fluid CO2 and solid SiO2to create a new crystalline compound, via experimentation at ultra-high pressures and temperatures, which is stable at ambient conditions.

    • Mario Santoro
    • , Federico A. Gorelli
    •  & Julien Haines

  • Article |

    Impurities and defects embedded in diamond are a promising platform for spintronics and photonics. Here, Magyar and colleagues incorporate europium defects in diamond, whose optical properties promise their use in quantum information applications.

    • Andrew Magyar
    • , Wenhao Hu
    •  & Igor Aharonovich

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Controlling thermal transport is commonly achieved by introducing scattering centres. Here, the authors demonstrate that coherent band structure effects can also be used to control phonon transport, viathe use of periodically nanostructured phononic crystals.

    • Nobuyuki Zen
    • , Tuomas A. Puurtinen
    •  & Ilari J. Maasilta

  • Article |

    Controlling the colour and pattern of emission in nanoscale objects is still a challenging goal. Here the authors report segmented micelles where the emission from each individual section can be precisely controlled, giving nanomaterials capable of producing colours throughout the visible range.

    • Zachary M. Hudson
    • , David J. Lunn
    •  & Ian Manners

  • Article |

    Three-dimensional superstructures of binary nanoparticles offer a flexible design approach towards materials with designable properties. Here, Li et al.study metal nanoparticle–triblock terpolymer superstructures, where an experimental and theoretical understanding can lead to their application in fields such as catalysis.

    • Zihui Li
    • , Kahyun Hur
    •  & Ulrich Wiesner

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Chemical synthesis of chiral materials with enantioselective properties is an ongoing challenge. Here, the authors fabricate a chirally imprinted mesoporous metal from the electrochemical reduction of platinum salts in the presence of a liquid crystal phase and chiral templating molecules.

    • Chularat Wattanakit
    • , Yémima Bon Saint Côme
    •  & Alexander Kuhn

  • Article |

    Sparse templates can be used to direct the assembly of block copolymers into patterned structures. Here the authors report a small set of template tiles that can be combined in different arrangements and orientations to form a variety of non-trivial patterns.

    • Jae-Byum Chang
    • , Hong Kyoon Choi
    •  & Karl K. Berggren

  • Article |

    Stretchable electrodes provide the foundation for many applications but optimising the architecture to balance performance and flexibility is challenging. Here, the authors show that fractal designs offer new opportunities to tune the mechanical properties of such structures.

    • Jonathan A. Fan
    • , Woon-Hong Yeo
    •  & John A. Rogers

  • Article |

    The design of dynamic covalent bonds is crucial to self-healing polymer materials, but the reaction normally occurs in the presence of heat or/and catalysts. Ying et al.report a catalyst-free design of dynamic urea bonds that are capable of autonomous repairing at low temperature.

    • Hanze Ying
    • , Yanfeng Zhang
    •  & Jianjun Cheng

  • Article |

    Graphene transistors are attractive for many applications but making integrated circuits without degrading their characteristics is proving challenging. Here, the authors demonstrate a radio frequency integrated receiver using a graphene-last approach compatible with conventional processing methods.

    • Shu-Jen Han
    • , Alberto Valdes Garcia
    •  & Wilfried Haensch

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Single-atom dopants embedded in a semiconductor matrix are of potential use for optical, spintronics as well as information storage applications. Here, Kobak et al.realize CdTe and CdSe quantum dots with single cobalt and manganese ions and show how the quantum dot design influences single-spin relaxation time.

    • J. Kobak
    • , T. Smoleński
    •  & W. Pacuski

  • Article |

    Mesocrystals are periodic arrangements of nanoparticles that allow for a tuning of the superstructure properties via its constituents. Here Bian et al. combine the properties of different nanocrystalline materials and fabricate a superstructure of two metal oxides with n- and p-type polarity.

    • Zhenfeng Bian
    • , Takashi Tachikawa
    •  & Tetsuro Majima

  • Article |

    Single-layered materials such as graphene are well known, but metallic elements tend to favour three-dimensional clusters. Here the authors report the synthesis of rhodium nanosheets—a supported, single-layered metallic material with rare δ-bonding.

    • Haohong Duan
    • , Ning Yan
    •  & Yadong Li

  • Article |

    Realising flexible, lightweight and transparent electronics is a continuous challenge. Here, the authors report a process to create such transistor devices, which can be transferred onto various flexible substrates, and continue to function when wrapped around human hairs.

    • Giovanni A. Salvatore
    • , Niko Münzenrieder
    •  & Gerhard Tröster

  • Article |

    The controlled synthesis of monodisperse nanospheres faces a number of difficulties, such as extensive crosslinking during hydrothermal processes. Here, the authors show a route for the controlled synthesis of mesoporous polymer nanospheres, which can be further converted into carbon nanospheres through carbonization.

    • Jian Liu
    • , Tianyu Yang
    •  & Shi Zhang Qiao

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Three-dimensional graphene offers an ideal sheet-to-sheet connectivity of assembled graphenes, but often suffers from poor electrochemical performance. Wang et al. present a sugar-blowing technique to prepare a 3D graphene, which overcomes such problems and shows potential in supercapacitor applications.

    • Xuebin Wang
    • , Yuanjian Zhang
    •  & Yoshio Bando

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Silicon carbide surfaces offer many interesting properties induced by surface strain relief. Soukiassian et al.report hydrogen-induced self-organized nano-voids below a silicon carbide surface, and suggest the resultant nanotunnel may be used as a template to capture atoms or molecules.

    • Patrick Soukiassian
    • , Erich Wimmer
    •  & Mario Rocca

  • Article |

    The integration of graphene with silver offers the promise of combining the electronic and plasmonic properties of both materials. Here, Kiraly et al.achieve the growth of graphene on a silver substrate, with the graphene electronic structure only minimally affected by the silver.

    • Brian Kiraly
    • , Erin V. Iski
    •  & Nathan P. Guisinger

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