Articles

Liquid metal dealloying is performed by immersing soluble and insoluble elements into a liquid metal bath but this prevents precise composition control. Here, the authors control the amount of soluble element remaining in the microstructure by partial dealloying and applied them to high-entropy alloys.

Light-emitting electrochemical cells are next-generation light-emitting devices but the operation mechanism is still not well understood microscopically. Here, the operation mechanism of light-emitting electrochemical cells is microscopically investigated by operando observation of spin states.

Designing artificial acoustic metasurfaces via traditional numerical simulations is computationally challenging. Here, the authors introduce a data-driven neural network approach for the inverse design of membrane-type sound absorbers, testing the desired properties on two devices fabricated using model-estimated parameters.

Additive manufacturing typically uses spherical powder feedstock prepared by gas or plasma atomization. Here, a high-performance aluminum alloy is prepared from cold mechanically derived powder, showing the viability of non-spherical powders for good mechanical properties.

Controlling the formation of domain structures in ferroelectric materials is vital for their applications. Here, exposing a bulk ferroelectric oxide to water causes self-organization of ferroelectric domains, with adsorbed surface ions promoting domain coarsening.

Strong spin-orbit coupling in SrIrO₃ mixes the orbital character of iridium d-bands, resulting in correlated narrow bands and a metal-insulator transition. Here, the electric field generated by ionic liquid gating is used to manipulate the band structure, triggering a reversible control of the metal-insulator transition.

Architected materials are known for high stiffness-to-weight behavior but bending-dominated lattices are of interest for their energy absorption performance. Here, an interwoven lattice with decoupled nodes shows significantly higher compliance at similar volume fractions to traditional lattices

Vanadium dioxide is a strongly correlated material interesting for its ultra-fast resistive switching controlled by an electric-field-driven insulator-metal transition. Here, VO₂ stochastic oscillator power sensors for mm-wave to sub-THz radiation are demonstrated, displaying high responsivities, low noise, and a small scalable footprint.

The melt growth of ice - crystallization from supercooled water - has complex anisotropic kinetics, closely related to the rich variety of snowflake crystals. Here, molecular dynamics simulations shed light on its microscopic mechanism, identifying a layer of ultralow density water at the growth interface.

Self-organized surface patterning is of great interest fundamentally and in applications. Here, a complex patterning behavior is observed on an azo molecular glass film with surface polystyrene microspheres upon circularly polarized laser irradiation.

Kirigami, the art of deploying flat sheets to create three-dimensional structures, relies often on complex folding processes that hinder industrial applications. Here, the authors develop a folding-wall kirigami pattern that deploys easily under tension, demonstrating its strength, stiffness, energy absorption, and interlocking properties.

Lamellar and brick-and-mortar microstructures mirror those of naturally occurring nacre and are known for their good mechanical performance. Here, magnesium-MAX composites are created with either a lamellar or brick-and-mortar microstructure, resulting in high strength and toughness.

Dislocation loop bias is ubiquitous in irradiated materials but complicated dislocation loop and point defect interactions make evaluation of dislocation loop bias factors difficult. Here, an atomistic approach based on α-iron point defect lifetimes is developed that allows mechanistic understanding.

Helix-fiber composites are used in intelligent stretchable materials but current understanding is still lacking. Here, we show that mechanical coupling plays a critical role in controlling structural properties and demonstrate use as an elastic conductor, sensor, and structure transplantation.

Quantized states in strongly correlated oxide nanostructures are crucial for designing quantum devices in future electronics. Here, in situ ARPES measurements in SrTi_1–xV_xO₃ reveal that the electron mean free path is a key parameter for controlling and designing quantized states in these structures.

In body-centered cubic alloys, screw dislocations are considered to be strength-controlling. Here, a systematic investigation of Mo-Ti alloys with varying lattice misfit reveals a transition from screw to edge dislocation-controlled strength.

Local chemical ordering has been shown to improve the mechanical properties of high-entropy alloys. Here, Zr- and (Nb, Ta)-locally enriched ordering is found to enhance both the dynamic strength and ductility of a TiZrNbTa high-entropy alloy under high strain rate loading.

Silicon heterojunction solar cells are highly efficient, but their degradation hinders market acceptance. Here, experimental measurements combined with machine learning methods show that mobile hydrogen develops a gradient, forcing it to drift from the interface and leaving behind defects.

The difficulty in obtaining a superconducting gap free of subgap states has hindered progress with hybrid superconductor-semiconductor devices in germanium. Here, this challenge is addressed by using a germanosilicide parent superconductor to contact high mobility planar germanium, facilitating scalable quantum information processing.

Defect engineering and doping of semiconductors by ion irradiation are essential in large-scale integration of electronic devices. Here, intense ion pulses from a laser-accelerator, with flux levels up to 10²² ions cm^-2 s^-1, are used to induce and optimize silicon color centers and photon emitters in the telecom band.