Materials science articles within Communications Materials

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  • Article
    | Open Access

    Single atom detection in nanoporous materials is challenging due to their sensitivity to electron irradiation. Here, the three-dimensional atomic occupancy of natural beryl is quantitatively analysed using high-angle annular dark-field imaging in a scanning transmission electron microscope and statistical analysis.

    • Daniel Knez
    • , Christian Gspan
    •  & Ferdinand Hofer

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Liquid crystal polymers rarely have high thermal conductivities due to their disordered directionality that limits conductivity in a specific direction. Here, an electric field is applied to align liquid crystal monomers before photopolymerization to result in high anisotropic thermal conductivity.

    • Maohua Li
    • , Ping Gong
    •  & Jinhong Yu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Unconventional superconductivity can be found in many artificial compounds such as cuprates, iron-based and heavy-fermion superconductors, and recently discovered exotic materials; however, it rarely occurs naturally. Here, nodal superconductivity is observed in synthetically clean miassite minerals, which can also be found in nature.

    • Hyunsoo Kim
    • , Makariy A. Tanatar
    •  & Ruslan Prozorov

  • 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

    Polarization rotation is key for modern optics but achieving it at mid-infrared frequencies is challenging and requires very thick phase retarders. Here, α-MoO3 flakes provide mid-infrared phase retardation and 90 degrees polarization rotation within one micrometer of material, a thickness ten times thinner than the operational wavelength.

    • Michael T. Enders
    • , Mitradeep Sarkar
    •  & Georgia T. Papadakis

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Materials language and processing with large language models provide an automated approach for text classification. Here, a generative pretrained transformer (GPT) approach is reported to provide a simple architecture for text classification, including identifying incorrectly annotated data and for manual labelling.

    • Jaewoong Choi
    •  & Byungju Lee

  • 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

    Fenton-like catalysts are used for degrading refractory organic pollutants but the synthesis of dual active sites is difficult to control. Here, carbon-assisted flash Joule heating synthesis results in a structure with single atoms and high-index facets for antibiotic and medical micropollutant removal from water.

    • Jiewen Luo
    • , Xiangdong Zhu
    •  & Fengchang Wu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The segregation of elements in superalloys is known to influence their mechanical properties. Here, atomic-scale imaging and theoretical calculations reveal a mechanism by which segregation causes a yield strength anomaly, strengthening the superalloy.

    • Andreas Bezold
    • , Jan Vollhüter
    •  & Steffen Neumeier

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Pinning sites are extremely detrimental to the frequency tunability of nano-rectifiers based on magnetic tunnel junctions. Here, the effect of pinning defects in vortex-based magnetic tunnel junctions is thoroughly explored, revealing that an amorphous magnetic material utilized as free layer can significantly reduce the impact of pinning.

    • Alex. S. Jenkins
    • , Leandro Martins
    •  & Ricardo Ferreira

  • 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

    When electronic band structures undergo a topological phase transition, a non-trivial Berry curvature emerges, but its experimental detection is challenging. Here, scaling relations in the nonlinear magneto-electric transport are used to reveal a topological phase transition in ZrTe5 under magnetic fields.

    • Yusuff Adeyemi Salawu
    • , Dilanath Adhikari
    •  & Heon-Jung Kim

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Cavity polariton condensates are promising for room temperature quantum technologies, but realizing polaritonic qubit states remains challenging. Here, polarization superposition of polariton states and laser-induced polarization switching are observed in a perovskite microcavity at room temperature, suggesting a coupling between orthogonally polarized states that could enable polaritonic qubits.

    • Yuta Moriyama
    • , Takaya Inukai
    •  & Kenichi Yamashita

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Materials with a chiral crystal structure are of great interest due to potentially non-trivial structure-property relations. Here, electron microscopy and crystallographic analysis, supported by quantum chemical calculations, shed light on the conversion of the crystal structure of CoSi accompanying a change in handedness.

    • Wilder Carrillo-Cabrera
    • , Paul Simon
    •  & Yuri Grin

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Representing crystal structures is crucial for enabling the inverse design of materials with desired properties via machine learning. Here, the authors propose a versatile crystal structure representation based on continuous fields rather than grid-based discretization, overcoming the tradeoff between spatial resolution and computational complexity.

    • Naoya Chiba
    • , Yuta Suzuki
    •  & Kanta Ono

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Machine learning models can predict the formation energy of compounds with high accuracy and efficiency. Here, the authors develop a deep convolutional network for high-throughput materials screening based on visual image representations of crystals instead of conventional graph structures, providing an alternative state-of-the-art approach that benefits from the most recent advances in image recognition architectures.

    • Ali Davariashtiyani
    •  & Sara Kadkhodaei

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Tuning the effective g-factor of semiconductors by a perpendicular electric field is essential for designing controllable spin-based devices such as qubits and spin field-effect transistors. Here, a wide-range g-factor tunability by external electric field is demonstrated in a high-mobility 2D hole heterostructure.

    • Maksym Myronov
    • , Philip Waldron
    •  & Sergei Studenikin

  • Article
    | Open Access

    A superlattice structure in Eu-doped GaN is known to improve the power output of red LEDs, though the mechanism behind this needs to be further established. Here, terahertz emission spectroscopy is used to understand the role played by potential barriers and carrier confinement in determining power output.

    • Fumikazu Murakami
    • , Atsushi Takeo
    •  & Masayoshi Tonouchi

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The layered charge density wave system 1T-TaS2 hosts a series of interesting correlation-induced electronic phases, but the nature of its insulating state is still under debate. Here, theoretical calculations and microscopy measurements reveal the role of stacking and interlayer coupling in the formation of different bandgap types, addressing previous discrepancies.

    • Jae Whan Park
    • , Jinwon Lee
    •  & Han Woong Yeom

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Engineering the dynamics of excitons is a promising approach for advanced optoelectronic devices. Here, exciton formation dynamics at an Si/SiO2 interface are studied for different temperatures and injection levels by time-resolved terahertz spectroscopy.

    • Sergio Revuelta
    •  & Enrique Cánovas

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Hafnia ferroelectrics hold exciting technological potential, but the variety of phases and unconventional properties found in these materials make them extremely challenging to describe theoretically. Here, an approach based on an original reference phase provides a unifying picture to understand the multiple low-energy polymorphs of hafnia.

    • Hugo Aramberri
    •  & Jorge Íñiguez

  • 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

  • Review Article
    | Open Access

    The effect of morphology-focused modifications is often overlooked despite their impact on battery applications. Here, the morphological relationship of ternary layered oxide cathodes to their electrochemical performance is Reviewed, with guidance suggested for their design and commercialization.

    • Zifei Meng
    • , Xiaotu Ma
    •  & Yan Wang

  • 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

  • Review Article
    | Open Access

    Raman spectroscopy is a popular non-destructive characterisation technique, but its application to electroceramics is under-represented compared to other fields. In this review, the latest instrumentational and computational advances are discussed, suggesting key advantages in the study of electroceramics.

    • Marco Deluca
    • , Hailong Hu
    •  & Thomas Dieing

  • 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

    LiCrSe2 is a recently synthesized two-dimensional triangular lattice antiferromagnet. Here, a comprehensive analysis of its magnetic phases and structural transitions is obtained by a combination of experimental probes, revealing a complex interplay of magnetic interactions, lattice distortions, and itinerant magnetic frustration.

    • Elisabetta Nocerino
    • , Shintaro Kobayashi
    •  & Martin Månsson

  • Perspective
    | Open Access

    The design and manufacture of materials that replicate the form, function, and sustainability of biological solutions remains difficult. Here, key challenges and promising approaches to materials development informed by biology are identified.

    • Devi Stuart-Fox
    • , Leslie Ng
    •  & Wallace W. H. Wong

  • 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

  • Article
    | Open Access

    LaPt2Si2 exhibits an intriguing interplay of superconductivity and charge density wave order, but the nature of its density wave transitions is controversial. Here, high-resolution X-ray diffraction reveals the temperature dependence of a series of density wave and structural transitions in this material.

    • Elisabetta Nocerino
    • , Irene Sanlorenzo
    •  & Martin Månsson

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Macro cross-linkers are used to develop tough hydrogels but their uneven cross-linking and resultant hydrogel inhomogeneity restrict improvement. Here, uniform cross-linking is achieved using polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane-grafted acrylated polyethylene glycol to enhance hydrogel toughness.

    • Sirawit Pruksawan
    • , Jeremy Weixiong Reuben Lim
    •  & FuKe Wang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The amorphous regions of π-conjugated polymers typically show lower functionality than the crystalline regions with high π–π stacking order. Here, a benzodithiophene–thiazolothiazole copolymer shows a greater coplanar backbone structure when the π–π stacking order is absent compared to the crystalline state.

    • Masahiko Saito
    • , Hiroya Yamada
    •  & Itaru Osaka

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Understanding the effects of changing process parameters during additive manufacturing is vital for building high-quality parts. Here, operando tomographic microscopy during laser-based processing of alumina reveals detailed insight into process dynamics, including melt pool behavior and defect formation.

    • Malgorzata G. Makowska
    • , Fabrizio Verga
    •  & Steven Van Petegem

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Excitons – electron-hole bound states important for optoelectronics – are typically observed only in weakly-doped semiconductors or insulators. Here, an exciton with a large binding energy of 375 meV is observed in a highly-doped van der Waals degenerate semiconductor, remaining stable up to room temperature.

    • Yueshan Xu
    • , Junjie Wang
    •  & Zhi-Guo Chen

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The maximum 3D morphology resolution of porous materials without vacuum has been limited to hundreds nanometer range. Here, ptychographic x-ray computed tomography has been demonstrated to study in situ polymeric membranes at nanoscale resolution with large visualization volumes.

    • Radosław Górecki
    • , Carla Cristina Polo
    •  & Suzana P. Nunes

  • 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

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