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| Open AccessDefect-induced triple synergistic modulation in copper for superior electrochemical ammonia production across broad nitrate concentrations
Converting nitrate to ammonia in wastewater with a wide range of nitrate concentrations remains a challenging task. Here the authors report defect-rich Cu nanowire electrocatalyst which can achieve 50 to 1100 mA cm−2 and over 90% Faradaic efficiency using 1–100 mM nitrate wastewater.
- Bocheng Zhang
- , Zechuan Dai
- & Genqiang Zhang
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Article
| Open AccessMemristive tonotopic mapping with volatile resistive switching memory devices
Processing spatiotemporal information calls for the construction of hardware systems with computing capability comparable to biological neural networks. Inspired by human cochlea, Milozzi et al. develop neuromorphic circuits for memristive tonotopic mapping via volatile resistive switching memory devices.
- Alessandro Milozzi
- , Saverio Ricci
- & Daniele Ielmini
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Article
| Open AccessHyperbolic metamaterial empowered controllable photonic Weyl nodal line semimetals
One-dimensional photonic crystals provide a platform to modulate Weyl quasiparticles with properties of bound states in the continuum both dynamically (transition and rotation) and topologically (singularities in bilateral drumhead surface states).
- Shengyu Hu
- , Zhiwei Guo
- & Hong Chen
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Article
| Open AccessCharge state-dependent symmetry breaking of atomic defects in transition metal dichalcogenides
The microscopic structure of quantum defects in 2D materials is crucial to understand their optical properties and spin-photon interface. Here, the authors report the direct imaging of charge state-dependent symmetry breaking of sulfur vacancies and rhenium dopants in 2D MoS2, showing evidence of a Jahn-Teller effect.
- Feifei Xiang
- , Lysander Huberich
- & Bruno Schuler
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Article
| Open AccessHigh-performance ferroelectric field-effect transistors with ultra-thin indium tin oxide channels for flexible and transparent electronics
Using Zr-doped HfO2 and ultra-thin indium tin oxide, Li et al. develop flexible field-effect transistors with a memory window of 2.78 V and bending reliability to enable high-performance back-end-of-line compatible wearable devices.
- Qingxuan Li
- , Siwei Wang
- & Lin Chen
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| Open AccessCMOS plus stochastic nanomagnets enabling heterogeneous computers for probabilistic inference and learning
Designing energy-efficient and scalable hardware capable of accelerating Monte Carlo algorithms is highly desirable for probabilistic computing. Here, Singh et al. combine stochastic magnetic tunnel junction-based probabilistic bits with versatile field programmable gate arrays to achieve this goa
- Nihal Sanjay Singh
- , Keito Kobayashi
- & Kerem Y. Camsari
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Article
| Open AccessObservation of naturally canalized phonon polaritons in LiV2O5 thin layers
Canalized polaritons are light-matter excitations characterized by intrinsic collimation of electromagnetic energy along a specific crystal axis. Here, the authors report the observation of intrinsically canalized phonon polaritons in a single thin layer of a van der Waals crystal, LiV2O5.
- Ana I. F. Tresguerres-Mata
- , Christian Lanza
- & Pablo Alonso-González
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Article
| Open AccessElectricity generation from carbon dioxide adsorption by spatially nanoconfined ion separation
Nanogenerators have promising applications in energy and environment-related fields. Here, the authors developed Nanosheet-Agarose Hydrogel generators to enable near-perfect anion/cation separation, leading to simultaneously CO2 adsorption and energy generation.
- Zhuyuan Wang
- , Ting Hu
- & Xiwang Zhang
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Article
| Open AccessSolar-driven sugar production directly from CO2 via a customizable electrocatalytic–biocatalytic flow system
Solar-driven artificial food synthesis from CO2 provides an approach to overcome the limitations of natural photosynthesis, but it is very challenging. Here, the authors report a hybrid electrocatalytic-biocatalytic flow system, coupling photovoltaics-powered electrocatalysis (CO2 to formate) with a five enzyme cascade platform (formate to sugar), which achieves conversion of CO2 to C6 sugar (L-sorbose) with a solar-to-food energy conversion efficiency of 3.5%.
- Guangyu Liu
- , Yuan Zhong
- & Yujie Xiong
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Article
| Open AccessDeep-potential enabled multiscale simulation of gallium nitride devices on boron arsenide cooling substrates
Efficient heat dissipation is critical to optimize high-power devices. Here, the authors report high interfacial thermal conductance in GaN-BAs heterostructures and investigate the competition between grain size and boundary resistance by multiscale simulations.
- Jing Wu
- , E Zhou
- & Guangzhao Qin
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Article
| Open AccessVelocities of transmission eigenchannels and diffusion
Wave scattering can be described with a diffusion model in which the velocity is randomized by scattering. Here the authors find that the velocities of different transmission eigenchannels are distinct on all length scales.
- Azriel Z. Genack
- , Yiming Huang
- & Zhou Shi
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Article
| Open AccessSpectroscopic visualization of reversible hydrogen spillover between palladium and metal–organic frameworks toward catalytic semihydrogenation
The authors report an in situ investigation of interfacial hydrogen spillover in Pd/ZIF-8 structures with X-ray and Raman techniques. A mechanistic picture of how Pd/ZIF-8 catalyst mediate alkyne semihydrogenation to alkynes is described.
- Qiaoxi Liu
- , Wenjie Xu
- & Yujie Xiong
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Article
| Open AccessLayer-polarized ferromagnetism in rhombohedral multilayer graphene
Rhombohedral multilayer graphene has emerged as an exciting solid-state platform for studying correlated electron physics. Here, the authors demonstrate field-tunable layer-polarized ferromagnetism and isolated surface flat bands engineered with a moiré potential.
- Wenqiang Zhou
- , Jing Ding
- & Shuigang Xu
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Article
| Open AccessDirect visualization of stacking-selective self-intercalation in epitaxial Nb1+xSe2 films
The interplay between stacking configurations and atom intercalation in van der Waals materials has been rarely characterized at the microscopic level. Here, the authors report an electron microscopy study of stacking-selective self-intercalation in Nb1+xSe2 films, showing potential for nanoscale engineering of electronic properties in van der Waals materials and devices.
- Hongguang Wang
- , Jiawei Zhang
- & Hidenori Takagi
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Article
| Open AccessToward sub-second solution exchange dynamics in flow reactors for liquid-phase transmission electron microscopy
In liquid-phase TEM, microfluidic reactors are used to monitor nanoscale (electro)chemical dynamics in liquid environments. Here, the authors develop a reactor design with accelerated mass transport, facilitating quantitative in-situ and in-operando studies.
- Stefan Merkens
- , Christopher Tollan
- & Andrey Chuvilin
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Article
| Open AccessElectrically driven amplification of terahertz acoustic waves in graphene
Electron–phonon interactions are a crucial aspect of high-quality graphene devices. Here, the authors show that graphene resistivity grows strongly in the direction of the carrier flow when the drift velocity exceeds the speed of sound due to the electrical amplification of acoustic terahertz phonons.
- Aaron H. Barajas-Aguilar
- , Jasen Zion
- & Javier D. Sanchez-Yamagishi
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Article
| Open AccessOxygen-independent organic photosensitizer with ultralow-power NIR photoexcitation for tumor-specific photodynamic therapy
Conventional photodynamic therapy (PDT) is hindered by oxygen-dependent photosensitization pathways and high-power-density photoexcitation. Here, the authors develop polymer-based organic photosensitizers (PSs) through PS skeleton design and side-chain engineering to allow tumor-specific PDT under oxygen-free conditions using ultralow-power 808 nm photoexcitation.
- Yufu Tang
- , Yuanyuan Li
- & Bin Liu
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Article
| Open AccessUltrafast all-optical second harmonic wavefront shaping
Enhancing the data encoding into the orbital angular momentum of light beams could enable faster and more efficient optical communications. This work demonstrates complex control of the second harmonic wavefront with dynamics solely limited by the pulse duration.
- Artem Sinelnik
- , Shiu Hei Lam
- & Isabelle Staude
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Article
| Open AccessHigh performance artificial visual perception and recognition with a plasmon-enhanced 2D material neural network
Here, the authors demonstrate a low-power neuromorphic visual architecture based on a plasmon-enhanced 2D semiconductor phototransistor array, showing high-speed sensing, preprocessing and image recognition functionalities.
- Tian Zhang
- , Xin Guo
- & Linjun Li
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Article
| Open AccessHighly parallel and ultra-low-power probabilistic reasoning with programmable gaussian-like memory transistors
Probabilistic inference hardware prevents overconfidence. Lee et al. report a Gaussian-like memory transistor using p-n junction coupled with separate floating gate, offering precise control of the Gaussian outputs, simplified circuit design, and low power consumption for inference computing.
- Changhyeon Lee
- , Leila Rahimifard
- & Sung Gap Im
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Article
| Open AccessFerroelectric compute-in-memory annealer for combinatorial optimization problems
Yin et al. realize a FeFET based compute-in-memory annealer as an efficient combinatorial optimization solver through algorithm-hardware co-design with a FeFET chip, matrix lossless compression, and a multi-epoch simulated annealing algorithm.
- Xunzhao Yin
- , Yu Qian
- & Kai Ni
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Article
| Open AccessButton shear testing for adhesion measurements of 2D materials
2D materials are being investigated for several applications in micro- and nanoelectronics, but their weak adhesion represents a critical challenge for device integration. Here, the authors propose a button shear testing method to evaluate the adhesion forces of various large-area 2D films on SiO2 and Si3N4 substrates.
- Josef Schätz
- , Navin Nayi
- & Max C. Lemme
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Article
| Open AccessLight and matter co-confined multi-photon lithography
Mask-free multi-photon lithography allows the straightforward fabrication of nanostructures, but high precision and good resolution can be challenging to achieve. Here, the authors report a combination of photo-inhibition and chemical quenchers for improved lithography performance.
- Lingling Guan
- , Chun Cao
- & Xu Liu
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Article
| Open AccessBroadened quantum critical ground state in a disordered superconducting thin film
The authors present Nernst measurements on a 2D film of amorphous MoxGe1−x, which shows a magnetic-field-induced superconductor-metal-insulator transition. The intermediate metal phase is known as the “anomalous metal” (AM) state. The authors conclude that the AM state originates from broadening of the superconductor-insulator transition.
- Koichiro Ienaga
- , Yutaka Tamoto
- & Satoshi Okuma
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Article
| Open AccessLanthanide luminescence nanothermometer with working wavelength beyond 1500 nm for cerebrovascular temperature imaging in vivo
The strong scattering of biological tissue causes challenges when monitoring temperature changes at the microscale. Here, the authors propose a nanothermometer based on lanthanide luminescence, enabling minimally invasive imaging of the cerebrovascular system of mice at nearly 200 μm resolution.
- Yukai Wu
- , Fang Li
- & Xingjun Zhu
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Article
| Open AccessPhotooxidation triggered ultralong afterglow in carbon nanodots
Biocompatible afterglow materials have potential in imaging applications, but are challenging to prepare. Here the authors report the development of carbon nanodots with near-infrared afterglow, and demonstrate their use in imaging for tumour resection.
- Guang-Song Zheng
- , Cheng-Long Shen
- & Chong-Xin Shan
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Article
| Open AccessNear-field detection of gate-tunable anisotropic plasmon polaritons in black phosphorus at terahertz frequencies
Polaritons in 2D materials offer the possibility to confine and manipulate light in the terahertz (THz) range. Here, the authors report the observation of THz elliptic plasmon polaritons in 2D black phosphorus, showing deep subwavelength light confinement and anisotropic polariton propagation.
- Eva A. A. Pogna
- , Valentino Pistore
- & Miriam S. Vitiello
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Article
| Open AccessMonolithic thin-film lithium niobate broadband spectrometer with one nanometre resolution
A framework to break the inherent trade-off barrier between spectral resolution and operational bandwidth of integrated optical spectrometers is developed and demonstrated on thin-film lithium niobate without sacrificing the compact footprint.
- Giovanni Finco
- , Gaoyuan Li
- & Rachel Grange
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Article
| Open AccessGraphene-integrated mesh electronics with converged multifunctionality for tracking multimodal excitation-contraction dynamics in cardiac microtissues
Tracking electrical and mechanical activity in in-vitro cardiac microtissues is challenging. Here, authors develop tissue-like electronics that can ‘grow’ with the cardiac microtissues and realize the simultaneous tracking of both signals.
- Hongyan Gao
- , Zhien Wang
- & Jun Yao
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Article
| Open AccessSi/SiGe QuBus for single electron information-processing devices with memory and micron-scale connectivity function
Electron spin qubits in SiGe dots have emerged as promising candidates for quantum information processing. Here the authors demonstrate conveyor-mode single electron shuttling in a Si/SiGe quantum dot device spanning the length of 10 micrometres and operated with a small number of controls
- Ran Xue
- , Max Beer
- & Lars R. Schreiber
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Article
| Open AccessHigher order gaps in the renormalized band structure of doubly aligned hBN/bilayer graphene moiré superlattice
In moiré superlattices, a multitude of higher order Bragg gaps and van Hove singularities emerges as the band structure renormalizes. Here, the authors map these gaps uniquely to the recently predicted topological Bragg indices of the underlying supermoiré lattice.
- Mohit Kumar Jat
- , Priya Tiwari
- & Aveek Bid
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Article
| Open AccessAtomically precise engineering of spin–orbit polarons in a kagome magnetic Weyl semimetal
Defect engineering in topological materials is a frontier that promises tunable physical properties with rich applications. Here, the authors demonstrate the atomically precise engineering of vacancies in a topological semimetal, which locally tunes the magnetic properties.
- Hui Chen
- , Yuqing Xing
- & Hong-Jun Gao
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Article
| Open AccessHigh figure-of-merit for ZnO nanostructures by interfacing lowly-oxidized graphene quantum dots
It is crucial to design ZnO with uniform nanoscale features to reduce thermal conductivity while maintaining electrical conduction pathways. Authors realize a high figure-of-merit value of 0.486 at 580 K by interfacing graphene quantum dots with three-dimensional nanostructured ZnO.
- Myungwoo Choi
- , Juyoung An
- & Seokwoo Jeon
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Article
| Open AccessIntragrain impurity annihilation for highly efficient and stable perovskite solar cells
The detrimental effects of intragrain impurity nanoclusters on the efficiency and stability of perovskite solar cells remain unexplored. Here, the authors study the intragrain impurity annihilation by in situ scanning transmission electron microscopy and adopt a laser stimulus to heal such impurity.
- Songhua Cai
- , Zhipeng Li
- & Yuanyuan Zhou
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Article
| Open AccessTriggered contraction of self-assembled micron-scale DNA nanotube rings
Contractile rings are formed from cytoskeletal filaments, specific crosslinkers and motor proteins during cell division. Here, authors form micron-scale contractile DNA rings from DNA nanotubes and synthetic crosslinkers, with both simulations and experiments showing ring contraction without motor proteins, offering a potential first step towards synthetic cell division machinery.
- Maja Illig
- , Kevin Jahnke
- & Kerstin Göpfrich
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Article
| Open AccessUltra-fast switching memristors based on two-dimensional materials
In this work, the authors demonstrate a 2D memristor with high switching speeds of 120 ps and study its dynamic response with 3 ns short voltage pulses using statistical analysis, simulation, and modeling.
- S. S. Teja Nibhanupudi
- , Anupam Roy
- & Sanjay K. Banerjee
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Article
| Open AccessControlled formation of three-dimensional cavities during lateral epitaxial growth
Substrate patterning offers additional degrees of freedom to engineer the structure and function of a semiconductor device. Here, fully-enclosed germanium cavities, with size and position tunable through the initial mask pattern, can be created through an unexpected self-assembly process.
- Yiwen Zhang
- , Baoming Wang
- & Rui-Tao Wen
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Article
| Open AccessPushing the thinness limit of silver films for flexible optoelectronic devices via ion-beam thinning-back process
The use of thin silver films with nanometric thickness for optoelectronic devices is essential for high transparency, flexibility, and electrical properties. Ma et al. report a thinning-back process with a flood ion beam, to further reduce film thickness down to 4.5 nm.
- Dongxu Ma
- , Ming Ji
- & Huigao Duan
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Article
| Open AccessLiquid metals for boosting stability of zeolite catalysts in the conversion of methanol to hydrocarbons
For the methanol-to-hydrocarbons process, coke build can rapidly deactivate the zeolite catalyst. Here the authors show that the addition of liquid metal gallium can reduce coke deposition and increase catalyst lifetime.
- Yong Zhou
- , Sara Santos
- & Vitaly V. Ordomsky
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Article
| Open AccessRegulating ion affinity and dehydration of metal-organic framework sub-nanochannels for high-precision ion separation
Understanding ion transport mechanisms in confined environments is key to achieving efficient membrane-based ion separation. Here, the authors regulate the ion affinity and dehydration in metal-organic framework sub-nanochannels and achieve a high-precise mono-/di-valent cation separation.
- Ri-Jian Mo
- , Shuang Chen
- & Zhong-Qiu Li
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Article
| Open AccessArea-selective atomic layer deposition on 2D monolayer lateral superlattices
Area selective atomic layer deposition (AS-ALD) has been recently proposed as a controlled growth method, but the patterning resolution and selectivity require improvements. Here, the authors report a superlattice-based AS-ALD method to deposit various materials onto 2D MoS2-MoSe2 lateral superlattices, with a minimum half-pitch size of ~ 10 nm.
- Jeongwon Park
- , Seung Jae Kwak
- & Kibum Kang
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Article
| Open AccessMagnetic droplet soliton pairs
A spin torque nano-oscillator consists of a free magnetic layer and a reference magnetic layer. Many works have examined the behaviour of droplet solitons in the free magnetic layer. Here, Jiang et al. extend this to pair of droplet solitons, with one in the free layer and one in the reference layer.
- S. Jiang
- , S. Chung
- & J. Åkerman
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Article
| Open AccessProton-selective coating enables fast-kinetics high-mass-loading cathodes for sustainable zinc batteries
Sluggish Zn2+-dominated Faradic reactions lead to suboptimal charge-storage capacity and durability of aqueous zinc battery cathodes. Here, the authors present a proton-selective interfacial coating strategy that enables high-performance cathodes with fast-kinetics proton-dominated Faradic reactions.
- Quanquan Guo
- , Wei Li
- & Xinliang Feng
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Article
| Open AccessTri-system integration in metal-oxide nanocomposites via in-situ solution-processed method for ultrathin flexible transparent electrodes
Fabricating flexible transparent electrodes with robust operational stability alongside electrical and mechanical properties is challenging. Here, Kim et al. develop ultrathin flexible transparent electrodes using in-situ solution-processing and unveil interface dynamics of the integrated tri-system.
- John Jinwook Kim
- , Kojima Shuji
- & Wallace C. H. Choy
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Article
| Open AccessCholesterol-modified sphingomyelin chimeric lipid bilayer for improved therapeutic delivery
Cholesterol (Chol) transfer from lipid bilayer jeopardizes membrane stability and causes premature payload leakage, yielding suboptimal efficacy. Here, the authors report a Chol-modified sphingomyelin (SM) bilayer via covalently conjugating Chol to SM, which retains Chol condensing ability and improves pharmacokinetics and therapeutic delivery of various drugs in diverse disease animal models.
- Zhiren Wang
- , Wenpan Li
- & Jianqin Lu
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Article
| Open AccessNeuromorphic antennal sensory system
Artificial sensory systems are often limited in structure and functionality. Here, Jiang et al. report a neuromorphic antennal sensory system that achieves spatiotemporal perception of vibrotactile and magnetic stimuli, showcasing biomimetic perceptual intelligence.
- Chengpeng Jiang
- , Honghuan Xu
- & Wentao Xu
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Article
| Open AccessIn situ electrochemical regeneration of nanogap hotspots for continuously reusable ultrathin SERS sensors
SERS is a powerful analytical technique, but achieving reproducibility for continuous analysis a challenge. Here, the authors report a SERS substrate recycling method that enables direct analysis of complex samples without substrate contamination.
- Sarah May Sibug-Torres
- , David-Benjamin Grys
- & Jeremy J. Baumberg
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Article
| Open AccessRectifying artificial nanochannels with multiple interconvertible permeability states
Transmembrane channels have inspired the development of biomimetic channels. Here, the authors present a class of artificial nanochannels based on DNAzyme-functionalized glass nanopipettes to allow for the control of channel permeability.
- Ruocan Qian
- , Mansha Wu
- & Yi Lu
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Article
| Open AccessAn artificial protein modulator reprogramming neuronal protein functions
Direct modulation of protein by artificial catalysts as enzyme mimetics remains hindered by the lack of highly efficient catalytic centers. Here, the authors present the development of artificial protein modulators (APROMs) with protein phosphatase-like characteristics, catalytically reprogram the biological function of α-synuclein.
- Peihua Lin
- , Bo Zhang
- & Daishun Ling