Engineering articles within Communications Materials

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  • Perspective
    | Open Access

    Thermomechanical stability is a limiting factor when scaling-up perovskite solar cells. This Perspective discusses several aspects of device design that control thermomechanical degradation, including adhesion of layers and encapsulation, and the importance of accelerated degradation testing.

    • Marco Casareto
    •  & Nicholas Rolston

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Nonlinear memory devices such as memristors, memcapacitors, and meminductors, are the building blocks of energy-efficient neuromorphic computing. Here, the authors propose a superconducting circuit design acting as a microwave quantum memcapacitor, which could be implemented in neuromorphic quantum computing architectures.

    • Xinyu Qiu
    • , Shubham Kumar
    •  & Francisco Albarrán-Arriagada

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Neural circuitry is important for comprehending computational mechanisms and physiology of the brain but controlling neuronal connectivity and response in 3D is challenging. Here, titanium carbide MXene-coated 3D polycaprolactone scaffolds are demonstrated to effectively control neuronal interconnection.

    • Jianfeng Li
    • , Payam Hashemi
    •  & Joyce K. S. Poon

  • Review Article
    | Open Access

    A key aspect of wearable devices used in personal health monitoring are the electrodes that make contact with the skin. This Review discusses how the materials and structure of electrodes used in these devices are vital to their performance, including how altering these factors might optimize their function.

    • Kyeonghee Lim
    • , Hunkyu Seo
    •  & Jang-Ung Park

  • Review Article
    | Open Access

    Human breath contains a vast amount of information that might be used to indicate respiratory and cardiovascular health. This Review summarizes and discusses recent advances in wearable breath sensors for monitoring breath temperature, humidity and airflow, as well as biomarker presence.

    • Dohyung Kim
    • , Jinwoo Lee
    •  & Seung Hwan Ko

  • Review Article
    | Open Access

    Three-dimensional silicon-based lithium-ion microbatteries have potential use in miniaturized electronics that require independent energy storage. Here, their developments are discussed in terms of their material compatibility, cell designs, fabrication methods, and performance in various applications.

    • Andam Deatama Refino
    • , Calvin Eldona
    •  & Hutomo Suryo Wasisto

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Cathodic protection is widely used in protecting structures from corrosion, but its working mechanism remains unclear. Here, in-situ and ex-situ characterization techniques, coupled with electrochemical measurements, are used to study the spatio-temporal changes at the steel-electrolyte interface.

    • Federico Martinelli-Orlando
    • , Shishir Mundra
    •  & Ueli M. Angst

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Refractory high-entropy alloys are attractive for high-temperature applications, but are challenging to process. Here, a method is shown for identifying a processing window that allows the additive manufacturing of a TiZrNbTa refractory alloy with a low defect content and mechanical properties comparable to as-cast samples.

    • Shahryar Mooraj
    • , George Kim
    •  & Wen Chen

  • Article
    | Open Access

    4D printing techniques enable the realization of smart materials whose shape or properties can change with time. Here, utilizing the anisotropic deformation of a combination of polymers and the distribution of microdefects formed during the 3D printing process, the authors realize a variety of shape-changing curved structures that can be used in drug delivery systems.

    • Vahid Moosabeiki
    • , Ebrahim Yarali
    •  & Amir A. Zadpoor

  • Article
    | Open Access

    A complex relationship exists between microstructure development and stress field during tribological loading of a metal. Here, twinning in a high-entropy alloy is used as a model system to understand stress fields during tribological experiments, supported by molecular dynamics simulations.

    • Antje Dollmann
    • , Christian Kübel
    •  & Christian Greiner

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Space-coiling acoustic metamaterials, where sound travels through labyrinthine geometries, are interesting for their high energy transmission and broad modulation characteristics. Here, the authors demonstrate an active approach to acoustic metamaterial reconfiguration based on dynamic space-coiling unit cells and soft robotic-inspired actuators.

    • Christabel Choi
    • , Shubhi Bansal
    •  & Sriram Subramanian

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Stimuli-responsive elastic metamaterials enable a high degree of tunability of resonance-based features. Here, a magnetically programmable metamaterial based on magnetorheological elastomers is designed and fabricated, demonstrating robust local resonance bandgap control.

    • Mohammadreza Moghaddaszadeh
    • , Andrew Ragonese
    •  & Mostafa Nouh

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Mechanical characterizations of metal-organic framework monoliths are often overlooked. Here, the stress-strain behaviour of ZIF-8 and MIL-68 monoliths was investigated with flat punch nanoindentation, micropillar compression and Raman microspectroscopy.

    • Michele Tricarico
    • , Cyril Besnard
    •  & Jin-Chong Tan

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The ability of a structure to reliably change its shape is key to the function of various organisms in nature, as well as for applications such as implants and robotics. Here, a methodology is shown to predict shape-morphing in kinematic structures, based on geometrical multibody design of connecting elements and joints.

    • Pier H. de Jong
    • , A. L. Schwab
    •  & Amir A. Zadpoor

  • Article
    | Open Access

    High-throughput computational screening accelerates the search for promising metal-organic frameworks but often neglects stability. Here, four stability metrics are integrated with high-throughput computational screening to identify top-performing metal-organic frameworks for carbon dioxide capture.

    • Saad Aldin Mohamed
    • , Daohui Zhao
    •  & Jianwen Jiang

  • Review Article
    | Open Access

    Transmembrane signaling systems are present in living cells which receive cues from the environment and produce a cellular response. Here, recent advances in the design of bioinspired systems that mimic transmembrane signaling in synthetic and living cells are reviewed.

    • Ke Shi
    • , Chuwen Song
    •  & Yiyang Lin

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Mechanical metamaterials are artificially designed structures with tunable behavior, typically obeying precisely programmed dynamics. Here, a metamaterial based on randomly stacked flexible cylindrical shells provides a disordered yet statistically robust and controllable structure for mechanical energy dissipation and storage.

    • Tomohiko G. Sano
    • , Emile Hohnadel
    •  & Florence Bertails-Descoubes

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Nanobubbles are sources of charge trapping that influence the performance and stability of devices based on 2D materials. Here, Kelvin probe force microscopy is used to study the origin and mechanism of charge trapping in nanobubbles of MoS2 on a SiO2 substrate.

    • Dohyeon Jeon
    • , Haesol Kim
    •  & Taekyeong Kim

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Catch bonds exist in some protein-ligand complexes and are of interest for their increased lifetime under greater mechanical force. Here, a mathematical model for nanoparticles tethered with macromolecules shows catch-bond behavior, which may be useful for designing synthetic materials.

    • Kerim C. Dansuk
    • , Subhadeep Pal
    •  & Sinan Keten

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Designing artificial acoustic metasurfaces via traditional numerical simulations is computationally challenging. Here, the authors introduce a data-driven neural network approach for the inverse design of membrane-type sound absorbers, testing the desired properties on two devices fabricated using model-estimated parameters.

    • Hamza Baali
    • , Mahmoud Addouche
    •  & Abdelkrim Khelif

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Vanadium dioxide is a strongly correlated material interesting for its ultra-fast resistive switching controlled by an electric-field-driven insulator-metal transition. Here, VO2 stochastic oscillator power sensors for mm-wave to sub-THz radiation are demonstrated, displaying high responsivities, low noise, and a small scalable footprint.

    • Fatemeh Qaderi
    • , Teodor Rosca
    •  & Adrian M. Ionescu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Kirigami, the art of deploying flat sheets to create three-dimensional structures, relies often on complex folding processes that hinder industrial applications. Here, the authors develop a folding-wall kirigami pattern that deploys easily under tension, demonstrating its strength, stiffness, energy absorption, and interlocking properties.

    • Tom Corrigan
    • , Patrick Fleming
    •  & Delony Langer-Anderson

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Foreign substances on the surface of a baseball can alter its delivery and enhance pitching performance. Here, sticky substances are found to increase finger-ball friction which can positively affect spin rate, whereas rosin powder can ensure consistent friction across pitchers, with results differing between baseballs used in the United States and Japan.

    • Takeshi Yamaguchi
    • , Daiki Nasu
    •  & Kei Masani

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Pivotally interconnected polygons are capable of auxetic behavior, but have not been fully explored. Here, a design method is demonstrated based on the selective removal of rotational hinges in pivotally interconnected polygons with even-numbered modules, leading to fully-deployable structures.

    • Ehsan Jalali
    • , Hadi Soltanizadeh
    •  & Pooya Sareh

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Preventing the condensation of water is key for anti-icing applications. Here, a macro-ridged surface is found to prevent frost formation either side of each ridge, attributed to a change in water vapor distribution preventing ice bridge formation.

    • Chenguang Lu
    • , Cong Liu
    •  & Yahua Liu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Collagen is known to play a key role in the fracture resistance of bone. Here, in situ synchrotron tomography during the mechanical testing of bone is combined with deep learning to mitigate radiation damage, revealing that a compromised collagen network lowers the efficacy of crack deflection.

    • Michael Sieverts
    • , Yoshihiro Obata
    •  & Claire Acevedo

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Active metamaterials can host non-Hermitian interactions that defy the conservation laws of linear elasticity, leading to unusual phenomena such as one-way energy transmission and odd-elastic moduli. Here, robust unidirectional Rayleigh surface waves are found in active media comprising both gyroscopic and odd-elastic effects.

    • Penglin Gao
    • , Yegao Qu
    •  & Johan Christensen

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Topological mechanical metamaterials have been considered effective for energy manipulation via edge states, but manipulating these states remains challenging. Here, a Kresling origami mechanical metamaterial hosts multiple topological edge states at finite frequencies, which can be manipulated and transferred across the boundaries of the system by adjusting the lattice torsion.

    • Yasuhiro Miyazawa
    • , Chun-Wei Chen
    •  & Jinkyu Yang

  • Perspective
    | Open Access

    Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy is a powerful and increasingly accessible approach for studying kinetic processes in batteries. Here, key factors for using impedance to obtain accurate and reproducible data from batteries are discussed, providing guidance for researchers.

    • Deyang Qu
    • , Weixiao Ji
    •  & Huainan Qu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Scattered elastic waves provide non-invasive diagnostics and dynamic characterization of metamaterials, but extracting information from small-size samples is challenging. Here, convolutional neural networks are used to interpret diffracted waves, revealing how sample-edge scattering provides the most significant information on macroscopic metamaterial properties.

    • Yuxin Zhai
    • , Hyung-Suk Kwon
    •  & Bogdan-Ioan Popa

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Multi-material 3D printing techniques are now enabling the rational design of metamaterials with both complex geometries and multiple materials compositions. Here, deep-learning methods are used to identify, among planar network structures, the rare designs that yield very unusual and desirable combinations of materials properties.

    • Helda Pahlavani
    • , Muhamad Amani
    •  & Amir A. Zadpoor

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The 3D stiffness of a self-folded metamaterial structure is limited by the low stiffness required by the folding process. Here, the stiffness limits of self-folding bilayers are theoretically established by a nonlinear model and experimentally validated on polymer-metal composites, providing the optimal combinations of geometrical and mechanical properties of folded constructs.

    • Teunis van Manen
    • , Vahid Moosabeiki Dehabadi
    •  & Amir A. Zadpoor

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Light and flexible thermoelectric generators operating at room temperature are highly desirable for wearable microelectronics. Here, flexible thermoelectric composites comprising semiconducting Bi2Te3 particles and conductive polymers exhibit a high output power within a small temperature window around room temperature.

    • Shuping Lin
    • , Lisha Zhang
    •  & Xiaoming Tao

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Developing scalable strategies of miniaturization and integration is key for achieving high-density integrated circuit devices. Here, the authors propose a silicon-based one-transistor device with a 40% reduction in circuit footprint, which combines the functionalities of logic gates, memory, and artificial synapses for mass production.

    • Mingzhi Dai
    • , Zhitang Song
    •  & Junhao Chu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Lightsails accelerated by ground-based laser arrays are a candidate technology to send probes into deep space in a timeframe compatible with human life. Here, an optimization study identifies the most promising multilayer structures that maximize propulsion efficiency, thermal stability, and mechanical stiffness.

    • Giovanni Santi
    • , Giulio Favaro
    •  & Maria G. Pelizzo

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Origami is a promising source of inspiration in designing foldable structures and reconfigurable metamaterials. Here, building on exact folding kinematic conditions, an algorithmic design of rigidly-foldable origami structures is presented, allowing the engineering of metamaterials with arbitrary complex crease patterns.

    • Andreas Walker
    •  & Tino Stankovic

  • Perspective
    | Open Access

    There is growing interest in organic semiconductor devices for light-mediated neuromodulation, such as for retinal stimulation. Here, the key working principles of these devices are discussed, as well as promising applications and outstanding challenges for the field.

    • Danashi Imani Medagoda
    •  & Diego Ghezzi

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Origami-inspired metamaterials are attractive for their programmable shape-shifting properties but are typically characterized by low structural rigidity. Here, 3D heterogeneous origami structures display highly reconfigurable mechanical properties, including finely controllable and reversible stiffness variation.

    • Yasuhiro Miyazawa
    • , Hiromi Yasuda
    •  & Jinkyu Yang

  • Review Article
    | Open Access

    Carbon dots are suitable for a range of biological applications due to their unique physicochemical properties and biological behavior. This Review summarizes research related to the emerging field of red-emissive two-photon carbon dots for bioimaging, biosensing, and phototherapeutic applications.

    • Pooria Lesani
    • , Aina Hazeera Mohamad Hadi
    •  & Hala Zreiqat

  • Article
    | Open Access

    There is an ongoing drive for new additive manufacturing processes that produce complex parts. Here, cavity vat polymerisation is introduced, in which cavities are filled with a dual-curing resin that forms an elastomer/thermoset covalently bonded interface, creating hard-shell/soft-core parts.

    • Joel Bachmann
    • , Philip Obst
    •  & Olaf Hinrichsen

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