Physical sciences articles within Nature Materials

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  • Article |

    In the standard model of particle physics the permanent electric dipole moment of particles is zero, although competing theories suggest it must exist to explain the asymmetry of matter and antimatter in the Universe. The design and synthesis of a new multiferroic material may now enable us to search for the electric dipole moment of electrons with unprecedented precision.

    • K. Z. Rushchanskii
    • , S. Kamba
    •  & N. A. Spaldin

  • Letter |

    The simplest iron-based superconductor is the chalcogenide Fe1+yTe1−xSex. Previous work suggested a different magnetic origin of superconductivity owing to differences in its electronic states of this material and the iron pnictides, or at least in their parent compounds —the undoped and non-superconducting versions. The differences are now reconciled by showing a modification of the Fe1+yTe1−xSex states when the Se content is increased.

    • T. J. Liu
    • , J. Hu
    •  & C. Broholm

  • Letter |

    Materials with perpendicular anisotropy receive considerable attention owing to their potential in being employed in efficient memory devices. It is now shown that a type of magnetic tunnel junction widely studied for in-plane magnetic anisotropy has all the properties necessary to realize stable and efficient devices based on perpendicular magnetic anisotropy.

    • S. Ikeda
    • , K. Miura
    •  & H. Ohno

  • Letter |

    Fibres are typically used as passive devices, whether in fibre-optical cables used in telecommunciations or as yarns for clothing. The demonstration of polymer-based piezoelectric fibres that can be drawn to tens of metres in length, and whose acoustic response can be actively controlled, suggests possible applications in, for example, medical imaging or acoustic sensing.

    • S. Egusa
    • , Z. Wang
    •  & Y. Fink

  • Letter |

    What happens to a crystal placed under a huge pressure? In the case of aluminium, it is now shown that the standard, low-pressure close-packed structure transforms into an open one, with incommensurate host–guest arrangement. The findings could have important implications for a wider range of elements.

    • Chris J. Pickard
    •  & R. J. Needs

  • Article |

    The manipulation of spin states is a key requirement in spintronics. In semiconductor microcavities, a multistate switching of the spin state of polaritons, which form as a result of the coupling of photons and excitons in the microcavity, may lead to new spintronics devices.

    • T. K. Paraïso
    • , M. Wouters
    •  & B. Deveaud-Plédran

  • News & Views |

    A new route to layer-by-layer assembly of metal–organic framework thin films affords highly ordered and controllable surfaces with potential in chemical sensing and catalyst applications.

    • Mark A. Green

  • News & Views |

    Heating and cooling of peptide amphiphile suspensions converts disorganized nanofibres into liquid-crystalline nanofibre bundles that gel on addition of salts. The noodle-shaped strings of gel can entrap and align cells.

    • Timothy J. Deming

  • News & Views |

    A cationic nanosized hydrogel (nanogel) shows controlled antigen delivery in vivo following intranasal administration and hence holds promise for a clinically effective adjuvant-free and needle-free vaccine system.

    • Herman F. Staats
    •  & Kam W. Leong

  • Editorial |

    The large investments in research and education made in recent years have provided Brazilian scientists with the conditions to achieve scientific excellence.

  • Interview |

    Sergio Machado Rezende has served for 5 years as the Minister for Science and Technology of Brazil. Nature Materials has asked him about the past and future of science in his country.

    • Fabio Pulizzi

  • Commentary |

    The historical trajectory of materials science in Brazil shows the fast establishment of a high-quality, sizeable and productive scientific community. It is now time for a change in attitude towards real innovation and excellence.

    • Ado Jorio
    • , Francisco César de Sá Barreto
    •  & Hélio Chacham

  • Article |

    The control of magnetic properties by electric fields is key to realizing spintronics devices. The surface of the antiferromagnetic magnetoelectric Cr2O3 is now shown to exhibit room-temperature ferromagnetism, whose direction can be switched by an electric field. This magnetization switches the exchange-bias field with magnetic multilayers grown on Cr2O3, promising a new route towards room-temperature spintronics devices.

    • Xi He
    • , Yi Wang
    •  & Christian Binek

  • Letter |

    Mucosal diseases are becoming more prevalent and needle-free vaccines could be instrumental in combating this. A nanometre-sized hydrogel consisting of a cationic type of cholesteryl group bearing pullulan has now been used as an intranasal vaccine-delivery system.

    • Tomonori Nochi
    • , Yoshikazu Yuki
    •  & Hiroshi Kiyono

  • Article |

    Peptide-based molecules that self-assemble into lamellar plaques with fibrous texture on heating, subsequently break on cooling to form long-range aligned bundles of nanofibres. This thermal route to monodomain gels is compatible for living cells and allows the formation of noodle-like viscoelastic strings of any length.

    • Shuming Zhang
    • , Megan A. Greenfield
    •  & Samuel I. Stupp

  • Letter |

    The search for active semiconductor photocatalysts that split water directly under visible-light irradiation remains challenging for solar applications. An orthophosphate semiconductor, Ag3PO4, which is capable of harnessing visible light to oxidize water as well as decompose organic contaminants in aqueous solution is now reported.

    • Zhiguo Yi
    • , Jinhua Ye
    •  & Ray L. Withers

  • News & Views |

    Organic light-emitting field-effect transistors surpass the external quantum efficiency of analogous organic light-emitting diodes.

    • Christian Melzer
    •  & Heinz von Seggern

  • News & Views |

    Nitrogen-vacancy centres in diamond are very promising candidates for quantum information processing in the solid state. However, a search to find defects with even more potential has now been launched.

    • David DiVincenzo

  • News & Views |

    Radionuclides encapsulated within carbohydrate-functionalized carbon nanotubes set new records for in vivo radiodosage, while demonstrating zero leakage of isotopes to high-affinity organs, such as the thyroid.

    • Michael S. Strano

  • Editorial |

    If Europe wants to be at the forefront of scientific research it is essential for governments to find the means to improve collaboration and the distribution of innovation across Europe.

  • Interview |

    Alain Fuchs is the director of the Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Chimie de Paris and in January was appointed the new president of the French National Centre for Scientific Research, CNRS. Nature Materials asked him about his research and his new role.

    • Hilary Crichton

  • Letter |

    Topological insulators have been predicted and recently demonstrated experimentally in a series of binary alloys. It is now show theoretically that ternary half-Heusler alloys have electronic properties similar to those of the experimentally verified topological insulators, and represent a platform for observing quantum topological phenomena.

    • Hsin Lin
    • , L. Andrew Wray
    •  & M. Zahid Hasan

  • Letter |

    For metal–organic frameworks to be used for applications such as gas storage it is necessary to direct their assembly. Here, thin crystalline films of metal–organic frameworks are fabricated on a solid surface with structural growth control over both in-plane and out-of-plane orientations relative to the substrate.

    • Rie Makiura
    • , Soichiro Motoyama
    •  & Hiroshi Kitagawa

  • Letter |

    Topological insulators have been predicted and recently demonstrated experimentally in a series of binary alloys. It is now show theoretically that about 50 Heusler compounds show features similar to those of the confirmed topological insulator HgTe, which considerably expands the possibility of realizing quantum topological phenomena.

    • Stanislav Chadov
    • , Xiaoliang Qi
    •  & Shou Cheng Zhang

  • News & Views |

    Ternary intermetallic Heusler compounds, originally discovered by a German mining engineer and chemist in 1903, may show exotic topological insulator behaviour unknown to science just five years ago.

    • Marcel Franz

  • Letter |

    When a superconductor is shrunk to the nanoscale, quantum size effects are predicted to strongly influence superconductivity. This is now demonstrated in Sn nanoparticles in which a reduction in size leads to a substantial enhancement of the superconducting gap.

    • Sangita Bose
    • , Antonio M. García-García
    •  & Klaus Kern

  • Letter |

    Bulk metallic glasses (BMGs) show good compressive mechanical properties that make them attractive for applications. However, BMGs tend to fail under tensile strain. Through secondary phases these problems can be remedied to some degree. A mechanism is now demonstrated where BMGs show enhanced tensile ductility though the deformation-induced precipitation of nanocrystals.

    • S. Pauly
    • , S. Gorantla
    •  & J. Eckert

  • Letter |

    A biomedical application of a nanoconjugate is now shown in vivo. Sealed carbon nanotubes filled with a radionuclide are functionalized with carbohydrate molecules without prompting cargo release. The stability and biocompatibility of the capsule together with the radioactive payload enables in vivo imaging of the system and delivery of a high-density radiodose.

    • Sung You Hong
    • , Gerard Tobias
    •  & Benjamin G. Davis

  • Article |

    The formation of lithium dendrites on the metal electrode surface of lithium batteries can lead to short circuits, making them potentially unsafe and unusable. The use of in situ NMR spectroscopy provides time-resolved and quantitative information about the nature of metallic lithium deposited on lithium-metal electrodes.

    • Rangeet Bhattacharyya
    • , Baris Key
    •  & Clare P. Grey

  • Letter |

    The ability to propagate heat in a film should improve with increasing thickness. However, graphene has a higher thermal conductivity than graphite, despite having a smaller thickness. The crossover from two-dimensional to bulk graphite is now studied experimentally and explained theoretically. The results may pave the way to thermal management applications in nanoelectronics.

    • Suchismita Ghosh
    • , Wenzhong Bao
    •  & Alexander A. Balandin

  • Article |

    Tailoring the thermal conductivity of nanostructured materials is a fundamental challenge for nano- and microelectronics heat management. It is now demonstrated how to modify the thermal conductivity of SiGe by engineering nanodot inclusions in regions as short as 15 nm. A similar approach could used on other materials, extending the range of thermal conductivities available.

    • G. Pernot
    • , M. Stoffel
    •  & N. Mingo

  • Article |

    An organic light-emitting transistor has now been fabricated with a trilayer heterostructure. This architecture is shown to prevent both photon loss at the electrodes and exciton-charge quenching, thereby dramatically improving device efficiency and establishing these types of transistor as a promising alternative to organic light-emitting diodes.

    • Raffaella Capelli
    • , Stefano Toffanin
    •  & Michele Muccini

  • News & Views |

    The use of a ferroelectric tunnel junction to control the spin polarization of adjacent magnetic electrodes promises a new approach to the use of interface effects for low-power-consumption spintronic devices.

    • R. Ramesh

  • News & Views |

    The prediction of interface structures is an uncertain and time-consuming task. A technique merging ab initio calculations with a genetic algorithm simplifies the process and provides suitable solutions of the atomic structures that would be hard to envisage a priori.

    • W. Craig Carter

  • Interview |

    Coherent synchrotron radiation has revolutionized the study of molecules and materials. Talking to Nature Materials, Gerhard Materlik, CEO of the Diamond Light Source, discusses the many uses of synchrotron sources and free electron lasers.

    • Joerg Heber

  • News & Views |

    Carbon nanotubes direct chemically produced thermal waves, providing propulsion and thermopower waves that create electrical energy.

    • Ali E. Aliev
    •  & Ray H. Baughman

  • News & Views |

    Patching carbon and boron nitride nanodomains emerges as an efficient way to engineer bandgaps in graphene, opening a new avenue for optoelectronic devices.

    • Angel Rubio

  • Editorial |

    The first demonstration of the laser has not only led to a myriad of commercial applications, but fifty years on basic research continues to rejuvenate the fundamental physics of the laser.

  • Interview |

    Charles Townes played a crucial role in the invention and realization of the first masers and lasers, for which he shared the 1964 Nobel Prize in Physics. Nature Materials speaks to him about his historic contributions.

    • Joerg Heber

  • Interview |

    The quantum cascade laser has liberated laser properties from materials limitations, enabling light emission to be tailored over a broad spectral range. Nature Materials talks to Federico Capasso about the development of these lasers in his laboratory.

    • Joerg Heber

  • Interview |

    It was the realization of semiconductor lasers that led to the commercial success of lasers. Herbert Kroemer explains to Nature Materials his contributions to the design principle of these lasers, for which he shared the 2000 Nobel Prize in Physics.

    • Joerg Heber

  • News & Views |

    So far, flow-induced transitions and structures formed by the assembly of surfactant micelles have been reversible. Now, a microporous extensional flow process forms a permanent gel, which remains intact even after flow has stopped.

    • Matteo Pasquali

  • Article |

    The fact that cells sense and respond to the mechanical properties of their environment is now a well-explored concept, although the mechanism of this response is still unknown. Now it is shown that cells themselves can mechanically manipulate the materials surrounding them by pulling at connective points, providing a feedback loop to influence cell fate.

    • Nathaniel Huebsch
    • , Praveen R. Arany
    •  & David J. Mooney

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