Techniques and instrumentation articles within Nature Communications

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  • Article
    | Open Access

    Water-in-salt electrolytes can be useful for future electrochemical energy storage systems. Here, the authors investigate the potential-dependent double-layer structures at the interface between a gold electrode and a highly concentrated aqueous electrolyte solution via in situ Raman measurements.

    • Chao-Yu Li
    • , Ming Chen
    •  & Tianquan Lian

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Optical binding enables light-induced assembly of many particles within a focus area. Here, the authors demonstrate that optical binding can occur outside the irradiated area by scattered light interacting with the particles outside the focus, generating arc-shape potential wells for particle trapping.

    • Chih-Hao Huang
    • , Boris Louis
    •  & Hiroshi Masuhara

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Elastic anisotropy of liquid crystals elastomers is typically measured at low frequencies for the applications such as soft robotics, actuators, and origami. Here the authors study the elastic anisotropy of LCE using Brillouin light spectroscopy at gigahertz frequencies such as radio frequencies or 5 G cellular networks.

    • Yu Cang
    • , Jiaqi Liu
    •  & George Fytas

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Obtaining information about the structure of metal-organic layers (MOLs) using standard electron microscopy methods is challenging due to damage under electron beam irradiation. Here, the authors reveal a multistep formation process of MOLs and identify missing clusters, dislocations, loop and flat surface terminations and ligand connector of MOLs via complementary electron microscopy techniques.

    • Xinxing Peng
    • , Philipp M. Pelz
    •  & Mary C. Scott

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The authors present an approach to connect polymer dynamics to force response by integrating optical tweezers with differential dynamic microscopy. They measure blends of ring and linear DNA and observe a resonant response, which is suppressed by the presence of microtubules.

    • Karthik R. Peddireddy
    • , Ryan Clairmont
    •  & Rae M. Robertson-Anderson

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Microchannels are the essential elements for the design of artificial devices but the fabrication of three dimensional (3D) microchannels with complex geometry and a high aspect ratio remains challenging. Here, the authors demonstrate a simple and solvent-free fabrication method capable of producing monolithic microchannels with complex 3D structures, long length, and small diameter.

    • Dongliang Fan
    • , Xi Yuan
    •  & Peiwu Qin

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Production of tools for polymer replication in the field of optical applications is still time-consuming and cost-intensive. Here the authors develop an efficient metal casting process, and demonstrate manufacturing of structures of complex shapes with a surface roughness of few nanometres.

    • Sebastian Kluck
    • , Leonhard Hambitzer
    •  & Bastian E. Rapp

  • Article
    | Open Access

    DNA-PAINT image acquisition is limited by speed. Here the authors use the neural network DeepSTORM to predict fluorophore positions from high emitter density DNA-PAINT data in order to achieve image acquisition in one minute; they demonstrate multi-colour and large-area imaging of semi-thin neuronal tissue.

    • Kaarjel K. Narayanasamy
    • , Johanna V. Rahm
    •  & Mike Heilemann

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The competition between the polar and nonpolar phase in the prototypical hybrid improper ferroelectric crystal Ca3Mn2O7 leads to exotic properties. Here, the authors directly imaged the crystal at atomic resolution to understand its nanostructure and discovered the double bilayer polar nanoregion.

    • Leixin Miao
    • , Kishwar-E Hasin
    •  & Nasim Alem

  • Article
    | Open Access

    3D printing is prone to errors and continuous monitoring and real-time correction during processing remains a significant challenge limiting its applied potential. Here, authors train a neural network to detect and correct diverse errors in real time across many geometries, materials and even printing setups.

    • Douglas A. J. Brion
    •  & Sebastian W. Pattinson

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The nanoscale measurement of electronic bandgaps is crucial for material characterization, but it is usually performed under cryogenic conditions. Here, the authors report a scanning probe method to determine the electronic bandgap of 2D semiconductors at the nanoscale by monitoring their quantum capacitance under ambient conditions.

    • Dian Li
    • , Xiong Wang
    •  & Xiaodong Cui

  • Article
    | Open Access

    High sensitivity in quantum sensing comes often at the expense of other figures of merit, usually resulting in distortion. Here, the authors propose a protocol with good sensitivity, readout linearity and high frequency resolution, and benchmark it through signal measurements at audio bands with NV centers.

    • Chen Zhang
    • , Durga Dasari
    •  & Jörg Wrachtrup

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Wang et al. report an underwater capillary adhesive that is strengthened by the conjunction of inner water bridge and outer air shell, and switched timely by a small direct current voltage. The design can also be constructed on flexible tapes, which can be applied to non-conductive substrates.

    • Huanxi Zheng
    • , Jing Li
    •  & Zuankai Wang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    High-throughput electron tomography has been challenging due to time-consuming alignment and reconstruction. Here, the authors demonstrate real-time tomography with dynamic 3D tomographic visualization integrated in tomviz, an open-source 3D data analysis tool.

    • Jonathan Schwartz
    • , Chris Harris
    •  & Robert Hovden

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Production defects prevent many industrially important materials from being adopted by metal additive manufacturing. Here, the authors propose a universal thermodynamics-guided alloy design approach to assist the discovery of crack-free materials.

    • Zhongji Sun
    • , Yan Ma
    •  & Dierk Raabe

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The work harnesses principles of spatial state tomography to fully characterise an optical beam in space, time, spectrum, and polarisation. Analysis of the output of a vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser illustrates the technique’s capabilities.

    • Martin Plöschner
    • , Marcos Maestre Morote
    •  & Joel Carpenter

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The Fermi surface is related to the energy distribution of electrons in a solid, and governs physical properties of metals and semiconductors. A new type of angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy, probing the Fermi surface and combining short recording time with high resolution, is now presented.

    • Sergey Borisenko
    • , Alexander Fedorov
    •  & Bernd Büchner

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Planar growth of nanowire arrays involves interactions between materials that affect the electronic behavior of the effective heterojunction. Here, authors show how core curvature and cross-section morphology affect shell growth, demonstrating how strain at the core-shell interface induces electronic band modulations in ZnSe@ZnTe nanowires.

    • Sara Martí-Sánchez
    • , Marc Botifoll
    •  & Jordi Arbiol

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Two-dimensional (2D) membranes are emerging candidates for osmotic energy conversion but the trade-off between ion selectivity and conductivity remains the key bottleneck. Here, the authors demonstrate a fully crystalline imine-based 2D polymer membrane capable of combining excellent ionic conductivity and high selectivity for osmotic energy conversion.

    • Zhen Zhang
    • , Preeti Bhauriyal
    •  & Xinliang Feng

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Developing materials for uranium harvesting from seawater with high adsorption capacity remains challenging. Here, the authors develop a new protocol, by combining multi-scale computational simulations with the PET-RAFT polymerization, for rational design and precise synthesis of block copolymers with optimal architectures and atomic economy, achieving a capacity of 11.4 mg/g within 28 days.

    • Zeyu Liu
    • , Youshi Lan
    •  & Gang Ye

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The development of non-invasive, rapid responsive phosphorescence is highly desirable but has rarely been described. Herein, the authors designed and prepare a series of molecular rotors containing a room temperature phosphorescence active triazine core and three bromobiphenyl units acting as rotors and demonstrate light stimulus triggered phosphorescence.

    • Xing Wang Liu
    • , Weijun Zhao
    •  & Ben Zhong Tang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The structural characterization of microgels at interfaces is fundamental for the understanding of their 2D phase behavior but characterization is usually limited by available experimental techniques and does not allow a direct investigation at interfaces. Here, the authors employ neutron reflectometry, which allows probing the structure and responsiveness of the microgels in-situ at the air-water interface.

    • Steffen Bochenek
    • , Fabrizio Camerin
    •  & Andrea Scotti

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Scanning NV center magnetometry enables imaging of weak magnetic fields at the nanoscale. Huxter et al. achieve an order-of-magnitude improvement in sensitivity by converting a spatial field gradient into an AC field by mechanical oscillations of the sensor, and image stray fields from atomic steps in an antiferromagnet.

    • W. S. Huxter
    • , M. L. Palm
    •  & C. L. Degen

  • Article
    | Open Access

    In metallic liquids, the fragility is difficult to predict and measure. Here, the authors present the film inflation method, which reveals large fragility variations across Mg–Cu–Y, and introduce the crystallization complexity as additional contribution to glass forming ability.

    • Sebastian A. Kube
    • , Sungwoo Sohn
    •  & Jan Schroers

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Ecologically friendly wood electronics will help alleviating the shortcomings of state-of-art cellulose-based green electronics. Here, the authors introduce iron-catalyzed laser-induced graphitization (IC-LIG) as an innovative approach for engraving large-scale electrically conductive structures on wood with high quality and efficiency.

    • Christopher H. Dreimol
    • , Huizhang Guo
    •  & Guido Panzarasa

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Solid–liquid interfaces are ubiquitous in natural and technological processes, but their imaging at the atomic scale has been challenging. The authors, using liquid-phase transmission electron microscopy, identify a quasi-liquid phase and the mass transport between the surface of In and Sn nanocrystals and an aqueous solution.

    • Xinxing Peng
    • , Fu-Chun Zhu
    •  & Haimei Zheng

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Pixelation is common in quantum imaging systems and limit the image spatial resolution. Here, the authors introduce a pixel super-resolution approach based on measuring the full spatially-resolved joint probability distribution of spatially-entangled photons, and improve pixel resolution by a factor two.

    • Hugo Defienne
    • , Patrick Cameron
    •  & Daniele Faccio

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Host-guest interactions can play a critical role in achieving switchable porous materials, but controlling them remains challenging. Here the authors report an atypical pore rearrangement in a magnetic 2D porous framework upon water adsorption; the structural transformation affects the magnetic properties of the material.

    • Jin-Peng Xue
    • , Yang Hu
    •  & Jun Tao

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The authors introduce photonic force optical coherence elastography that uses a light-sheet for parallelised and localised mechanical loading. They demonstrate the combination of 3D imaging of extracellular matrix mechanics with cellular-scale resolution and dynamic monitoring of cell-mediated changes.

    • Yuechuan Lin
    • , Nichaluk Leartprapun
    •  & Steven G. Adie

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Electron beam manipulation is important for their application in microscopes, lithography instruments, and colliders. Here the authors report a wafer scale, self-assembled, microcoil electrically-driven magnetic charge particle optic device that can be implemented into different configurations for controlling of electron beams.

    • R. Huber
    • , F. Kern
    •  & A. Lubk

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Light field imaging typically requires large format detectors and yet often compromises resolution or speed. Here, compact light field photography is presented to lift both restrictions to see through and around severe occlusions in 3D and real time.

    • Xiaohua Feng
    • , Yayao Ma
    •  & Liang Gao

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Imaging in scattering media is challenging due to signal attenuation and strong coupling of scattered and signal photons. The authors present a boundary migration model of the scattered field, converting scattered measurements in spectral form to scene information in temporal domain, and image Lambertian objects in highly scattering media.

    • Dongyu Du
    • , Xin Jin
    •  & Jingyan Song

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Molecules offer enormous capacity for information storage. Here, the authors show that information can be encoded into molecules with sequences of paramagnetic lanthanide ions, and decoded using nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy.

    • Jan Kretschmer
    • , Tomáš David
    •  & Miloslav Polasek

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