Techniques and instrumentation articles within Nature Communications

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  • Article |

    Nano-grained materials are known to demonstrate different physical properties to coarse grained materials, due to changes in mechanism. Here, the authors find a new mechanism, revealing that grain growth in nano-grained gold is assisted by twin formation during cyclic loading.

    • Xue-Mei Luo
    • , Xiao-Fei Zhu
    •  & Guang-Ping Zhang

  • Article |

    Molybdenum disulphide may be prepared by lithiation and exfoliation; however the process requires a long lithiation and produces low yields. Here, the authors show that metal naphthalenides may be used for the intercalation, and that the resulting products are of high quality and may be inkjet-printed.

    • Jian Zheng
    • , Han Zhang
    •  & Kian Ping Loh

  • Article |

    Extending the optical response of silicon below the band gap towards infrared wavelengths is of interest for applications such as imaging. Here, Mailoa et al. achieve room-temperature infrared photoresponse from silicon doped with supersaturated concentrations of gold impurities.

    • Jonathan P. Mailoa
    • , Austin J. Akey
    •  & Tonio Buonassisi

  • Article |

    The controlled synthesis of monodisperse nanospheres faces a number of difficulties, such as extensive crosslinking during hydrothermal processes. Here, the authors show a route for the controlled synthesis of mesoporous polymer nanospheres, which can be further converted into carbon nanospheres through carbonization.

    • Jian Liu
    • , Tianyu Yang
    •  & Shi Zhang Qiao

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Nuclear magnetic resonance is vital for analysis and diagnostics but suffers from insensitivity as only a small fraction of all NMR-active nuclei are spin-polarized and contribute to the signal. Here Hövener et al. describe an effect that replenishes nuclear spin polarization continuously for a considerably enhanced performance at low field.

    • Jan-Bernd Hövener
    • , Niels Schwaderlapp
    •  & Dominik von Elverfeldt

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Three-dimensional graphene offers an ideal sheet-to-sheet connectivity of assembled graphenes, but often suffers from poor electrochemical performance. Wang et al. present a sugar-blowing technique to prepare a 3D graphene, which overcomes such problems and shows potential in supercapacitor applications.

    • Xuebin Wang
    • , Yuanjian Zhang
    •  & Yoshio Bando

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Silicon carbide surfaces offer many interesting properties induced by surface strain relief. Soukiassian et al.report hydrogen-induced self-organized nano-voids below a silicon carbide surface, and suggest the resultant nanotunnel may be used as a template to capture atoms or molecules.

    • Patrick Soukiassian
    • , Erich Wimmer
    •  & Mario Rocca

  • Article
    | Open Access

    In superconductors with sign-preserving pairing symmetries, Cooper pairs break when they scatter off magnetic impurities but not non-magnetic impurities. An observation of pair breaking by copper impurities in Na(Fe0.96Co0.03Cu0.01)As demonstrates that its pairing symmetry is sign-reversed.

    • Huan Yang
    • , Zhenyu Wang
    •  & Hai-Hu Wen

  • Article |

    The integration of graphene with silver offers the promise of combining the electronic and plasmonic properties of both materials. Here, Kiraly et al.achieve the growth of graphene on a silver substrate, with the graphene electronic structure only minimally affected by the silver.

    • Brian Kiraly
    • , Erin V. Iski
    •  & Nathan P. Guisinger

  • Article |

    The orbital angular momentum of photons has the potential to dramatically increase data rates and enhance security in quantum optical communications. Here, Mirhosseini et al.demonstrate a scheme that is able to separate photons with different orbital angular momentum with 92% efficiency.

    • Mohammad Mirhosseini
    • , Mehul Malik
    •  & Robert W. Boyd

  • Article |

    The intercalation of graphene can result in many attractive functional properties. Here, the authors study the mechanism of caesium intercalation of graphene, finding that it nucleates at wrinkles on the graphene surface and is influenced by van der Waals interactions.

    • M. Petrović
    • , I. Šrut Rakić
    •  & M. Kralj

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Laser cooling has been a successful technique to cool atoms and diatomic molecules to very low temperatures. Here, using an external cavity for an improved light coupling, Asenbaum et al.achieve the cooling of much larger objects, silicon nanoparticles, and reduce their transverse kinetic energy by up to a factor of 30.

    • Peter Asenbaum
    • , Stefan Kuhn
    •  & Markus Arndt

  • Article |

    Several techniques exist for patterning a single densely packed layer of quantum dots onto a surface. Kim et al.now demonstrate a simple and reliable technique for transferring multiple monolayers, one-by-one, to form stacked multilayers of quantum dots of different types and sizes on a surface.

    • Tae-Ho Kim
    • , Dae-Young Chung
    •  & Kinam Kim

  • Article |

    The morphology of organic thin films has a strong influence on their practical device properties. Farina et al. demonstrate a patterning technique that modifies the conductivity of polymer thin films without affecting their morphology, which could be useful for non-volatile storage applications.

    • Marco Farina
    • , Tengling Ye
    •  & Panagiotis E. Keivanidis

  • Article |

    The atomic structure of graphene edges is critical in determining their physical and chemical properties, but they are typically far from ideal. Here, the authors fabricate atomically perfect graphene edges via electron beam mechanical rupture or tearing in high vacuum conditions.

    • Kwanpyo Kim
    • , Sinisa Coh
    •  & A. Zettl

  • Article |

    Microcantilevers made from flexible materials exhibit nonlinear dynamic behaviour such as bistability. Venstra et al.describe how noise induces transitions between the states in a strongly nonlinear vibrating cantilever and exploit the noisy environment to improve the signal transduction.

    • Warner J. Venstra
    • , Hidde J. R. Westra
    •  & Herre S. J. van der Zant

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Droplets of water on very hot surfaces form levitating droplets, according to the Leidenfrost effect. Here, the authors show that green chemistry can be performed in these charged droplets, demonstrated by the synthesis of a range of nanoparticles, nanoscale coatings and porous metallic materials.

    • Ramzy Abdelaziz
    • , Duygu Disci-Zayed
    •  & Mady Elbahri

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Understanding the role of defects on semiconductor carrier transport should help improve their performance in devices. Using photoluminescence techniques, Alberi et al. image the carrier diffusion in polycrystalline CdTe and find that long-range transport is mediated by the distribution of defect states.

    • K. Alberi
    • , B. Fluegel
    •  & A. Mascarenhas

  • Article |

    The control of propagating light is a crucial aspect in photonics. Here Martins et al.demonstrate that by a careful design of their Fourier spectra, quasi-random nanostructures can achieve such control very efficiently.

    • Emiliano R. Martins
    • , Juntao Li
    •  & Thomas F. Krauss

  • Article |

    Molecular actuators hold potential in a number of sensing applications but require careful design to ensure specific functionality. Shepherdet al.report a new platform for molecular actuators based on spin crossover materials, whose response can be controlled by various stimuli or chemical modification.

    • Helena J. Shepherd
    • , Il’ya A. Gural’skiy
    •  & Azzedine Bousseksou

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Mesoporous polymeric materials are good candidates for advanced separation materials, though their low-cost production remains challenging. Here, the authors report a microphase separation technique for the fabrication of nanoporous networks from frozen solutions of common polymers.

    • Sadaki Samitsu
    • , Rui Zhang
    •  & Izumi Ichinose

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The sensitivity and selectivity of graphene-based biosensors depends on attaching various functional groups to graphene. Hirtz et al. use dip-pen nanolithography to directly write phospholipid membranes on graphene, which enables multiplexed and heterogeneous non-covalent functionalization.

    • Michael Hirtz
    • , Antonios Oikonomou
    •  & Aravind Vijayaraghavan

  • Article |

    The realization of highly conductive, dispersant-free pastes based on nanocarbon materials has been hindered by agglomeration of particles. Han et al. demonstrate conducting pastes that do not agglomerate due to quadruple hydrogen-bonding motifs among the nanocarbon particles.

    • Joong Tark Han
    • , Bo Hwa Jeong
    •  & Geon-Woong Lee

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Carbon nanotubes can be considered as rolled-up small sheets of graphene. Here Lim and colleagues demonstrate this process, by fabricating carbon nanotubes through a thermally induced process of self-intertwining of graphene nanoribbons.

    • Hong En Lim
    • , Yasumitsu Miyata
    •  & Hisanori Shinohara

  • Article |

    The mechanical testing of thin films is non-trivial, due to their very fine dimensions. Kim et al. use the inherent surface tension of water as a platform for the frictionless tensile testing of gold films, with a thickness as fine as 55 nm.

    • Jae-Han Kim
    • , Adeel Nizami
    •  & Taek-Soo Kim

  • Article |

    Determining the nanostructure within complex composites may lead to greater understanding of their properties. Here, the authors demonstrate the application of X-ray atomic pair distribution function computed tomography to resolve the physicochemical properties of palladium nanoparticles on an alumina catalyst.

    • Simon D. M. Jacques
    • , Marco Di Michiel
    •  & Simon J. L. Billinge

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Hyperpolarization of chemical nuclei is known to greatly increase sensitivity to characterization by magnetic resonance imaging. Here a new platform that allows for the design of a number of hyperpolarized probes for chemical sensing applications is demonstrated.

    • Hiroshi Nonaka
    • , Ryunosuke Hata
    •  & Shinsuke Sando

  • Article |

    Exploiting the optics-like dynamics of low-energy electronic excitations in graphene requires the challenging combination of ballistic transport and complex gating. Here the fabrication and characterization of suspended graphene p–njunctions is reported, paving the way for future electron optics experiments.

    • Peter Rickhaus
    • , Romain Maurand
    •  & Christian Schönenberger

  • Article |

    Flexible CdTe solar cells on metal foil substrates are promising for low-cost roll-to-roll fabrication, but their efficiency is usually low because of their inverted structure. By controlling the doping of the CdTe layer with copper, Kranz et al. show that efficiencies up to 13.6% can be obtained.

    • Lukas Kranz
    • , Christina Gretener
    •  & Ayodhya N. Tiwari

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The incorporation of electronic circuits into various plastic products and devices is limited by the brittle nature of silicon wafers. Here, Sun et al.demonstrate flexible and high-performance all-carbon-based transistor circuits that can be thermo-moulded into various shapes.

    • Dong-Ming Sun
    • , Marina Y. Timmermans
    •  & Yutaka Ohno

  • Article |

    Techniques for shape-controlling of hydrogels, that is, crosslinked networks of polymers, could make possible various biomimetic applications. Palleau et al.propose a strategy to pattern three-dimensional hydrogels using electric potential, which allows directed bending and fast controllable actuation.

    • Etienne Palleau
    • , Daniel Morales
    •  & Orlin D. Velev

  • Article |

    Obtaining quantitative information on nanoscale magnetic structures is a challenge. Here, the authors apply scanning probe magnetometry based on a single nitrogen-vacancy defect in diamond to quantitatively map the stray magnetic field emitted by a vortex state in a ferromagnetic dot.

    • L. Rondin
    • , J. -P. Tetienne
    •  & V. Jacques

  • Article |

    Silicon nanospheres could be of interest for applications in electronics and optoelectronics. Here, Gumenniket al. demonstrate a nanosphere fabrication process based on an optical fibre drawing technique that is able to produce p and n-type spheres paired into rectifying bispherical junctions.

    • Alexander Gumennik
    • , Lei Wei
    •  & Yoel Fink

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