Techniques and instrumentation articles within Nature Communications

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  • Article |

    Manipulating spin currents in graphene by the spin–orbit interaction is important for many technological developments. Here, the authors show that the presence of residual metallic adatoms in chemical vapour deposition graphene enhances its spin–orbit coupling by three orders of magnitude.

    • Jayakumar Balakrishnan
    • , Gavin Kok Wai Koon
    •  & Barbaros Özyilmaz

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy is a powerful technique that can identify the presence of certain atoms in a sample by their magnetic properties. Müller et al.now take this concept to its ultimate limit by measuring individual nuclear spins near the surface of diamond.

    • C. Müller
    • , X. Kong
    •  & F. Jelezko

  • Article |

    In quantum mechanics, the uncertainty principle is considered a limiting factor forbidding a system from being in a state where all possible measurements have perfectly predictable outcomes. Here, Dahlsten et al. show its positive role as the enabler of non-classical dynamics in an interferometer.

    • Oscar C. O. Dahlsten
    • , Andrew J. P. Garner
    •  & Vlatko Vedral

  • Article |

    Electric double-layer capacitors are promising energy storage devices with high-power density. Here, the authors report in situmagnetic resonance imaging experiments on a working electric double-layer capacitor, revealing insights into the charge storage mechanism and cell-aging effects.

    • Andrew J. Ilott
    • , Nicole M. Trease
    •  & Alexej Jerschow

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Dynamic force spectroscopy is widely applied to probe molecular interactions by forcible bond breaking, but it currently lacks an analytical theory that spans the divide between experiment and simulation. Here, such a unified framework is developed and shown to be accurate for slow and fast loading.

    • Jakob T. Bullerjahn
    • , Sebastian Sturm
    •  & Klaus Kroy

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Measuring forces on antimatter is vital to testing our understanding of fundamental physics. Towards this aim, Aghion et al.present a method to measure the deflection of antiprotons based on an atom optical tool, the moiré deflectometer, which could be extended to future antihydrogen gravity measurements.

    • S. Aghion
    • , O. Ahlén
    •  & J. Zmeskal

  • Article |

    Covalent organic frameworks are a potentially useful class of materials, although they are currently synthesized using relatively few reactions. Here, the authors show that the imidization reaction can be used to prepare a series of large pore polyimide frameworks with high surface area and thermal stability.

    • Qianrong Fang
    • , Zhongbin Zhuang
    •  & Yushan Yan

  • Article |

    Atomic manipulation can be used to fabricate unique structures at the atomic level but has previously been limited to conductive surfaces, mainly at low temperatures. Here, the authors present a systematic manipulation on an insulating surface using atomic force microscopy to construct complex patterns.

    • Shigeki Kawai
    • , Adam S. Foster
    •  & Ernst Meyer

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Wetting on soft surfaces exhibits a ridge structure at the contact line and the underlying mechanism is not yet fully understood. Here, Park et al.visualize the evolution of the ridge tip with high spatial and temporal resolution and identity its asymmetric shape independent of surface softness.

    • Su Ji Park
    • , Byung Mook Weon
    •  & Jung Ho Je

  • Article |

    Crystal symmetries play an important role in the properties of materials, but allow little dynamic control once the materials have been grown. Here, the authors show that conducting oxides sandwiched between independently switchable ferroelectric films achieve tunable symmetry for controllable properties.

    • C. Becher
    • , M. Trassin
    •  & D. Meier

  • Article |

    The electrical conductance across quantum point contacts shows quantum steps that are well understood except for some anomalies. Here, the authors are able to explain their origin in terms of spontaneously localized electron states by tuning the potential landscape of the contact with a scanning gate microscope.

    • B. Brun
    • , F. Martins
    •  & H. Sellier

  • Article |

    There is strong interest in carbon nanotube assemblies for a variety of applications, many of which require combined high mechanical and electrical properties. Here, the authors demonstrate a rolling technique for performance improvement, reporting tensile strength of 4.34 GPa, ductility of 10% and electrical conductivity of 2.0 × 104 S cm−1.

    • J. N. Wang
    • , X. G. Luo
    •  & Y. Chen

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Very long baseline interferometry is an astronomical technique that uses radio telescopes on Earth to observe extragalactic radio sources. Here, the authors show that it can be used to measure the electron density of the Sun’s corona and compare their findings to models from spacecraft tracking data.

    • B. Soja
    • , R. Heinkelmann
    •  & H. Schuh

  • Article |

    Cloaking of a range of stimuli have been demonstrated in various metamaterials recently. Here, the authors report mechanical cloaking in a pentamode structure, leading to ‘unfeelability’ of a core in an elasto-mechanical core-shell system.

    • T. Bückmann
    • , M. Thiel
    •  & M. Wegener

  • Article |

    Electron energy-loss spectroscopy gives important information on plasmonic modes in metal nanostructures. Raza et al. use it to study the confined gap surface-plasmon modes in ultra-sharp convex grooves in gold and find asymmetric modes existing down to nanometre-sized gaps.

    • Søren Raza
    • , Nicolas Stenger
    •  & N. Asger Mortensen

  • 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 |

    Fluorescent organic nanoparticles are attractive alternatives to quantum dots for imaging applications. Here, the authors assemble dyes with bulky counterions inside polymer nanoparticles to achieve high fluorescence brightness, as well as a photoinducible and reversible on/off switching.

    • Andreas Reisch
    • , Pascal Didier
    •  & Andrey S. Klymchenko

  • 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 |

    Natural gas is a widely used fossil fuel, but its extraction results in the venting of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. Here, the authors demonstrate that nucleophilic porous carbons can store this carbon dioxide as a polymer, and that the polymerization requires lower pressures than previously observed.

    • Chih-Chau Hwang
    • , Josiah J. Tour
    •  & James M. Tour

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Direct visualization of graphene growth is highly desired, though, extremely high growth rates during chemical vapour deposition make atomic resolution analysis infeasible. Here, Liu et al. report the visualization of the in situin-plane growth of graphene in a scanning transmission electron microscope.

    • Zheng Liu
    • , Yung-Chang Lin
    •  & Kazu Suenaga

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Spintronics requires materials in which most of the spins at the Fermi edge are aligned with each other at room temperatures. Jourdan et al. observe such a spin polarization of 93% in Co2MnSi—a Heusler alloy amenable to many spintronic applications; evidence of the material’s half-metallicity.

    • M. Jourdan
    • , J. Minár
    •  & M. Kläui

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Observing the movement of defects through a crystal lattice in real time presents significant difficulties. Here, the authors use an ultra-high vacuum and low-voltage scanning transmission microscope setup to observe the migration of a divacancy defect in real time through graphene.

    • Jani Kotakoski
    • , Clemens Mangler
    •  & Jannik C. Meyer

  • 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
    | Open Access

    Electron-beam lithography is often used for patterning of asymmetric metal electrodes for nanoscale devices, but suffers from several limitations. Here, the authors report a new adhesion lithography process, which allows for high-throughput and simple fabrication of nanogap metal electrodes.

    • David J. Beesley
    • , James Semple
    •  & John C. deMello

  • 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

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