Review Articles in 2023

Understanding the protein corona can advance nanomedicinal developments and elucidate how nanomaterials impact the environment. This Review discusses the evolution and challenges in characterizing the protein corona, explores how artificial intelligence can supplement experimental efforts and exposes emerging opportunities in nanomedicine and the environment.

Ternary organic solar cells adhere to a simple device fabrication strategy and are among the highest performing organic solar cells to date. This Review examines the multiple models of operation that have emerged for ternary cells, highlighting new insights and still-existing gaps in knowledge.

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are lipid-bound nanoscale mediators of intercellular communication. This Review discusses EVs in the context of the extracellular matrix, highlighting how the understanding of their interactions inspires materials design to control the release, retention and production of EVs for various biological and therapeutic applications.

The field of organic electronics has acknowledged that the key to process and device optimization is to elucidate the correlation between the active layer morphology and performance. This Review outlines how this can be achieved using accessible approaches from materials science and classical polymer thermodynamics.

Monolayer-protected metal clusters are a unique class of versatile, atomically precise nanomaterials that have drawn attention in diverse areas of materials science owing to their molecular-like properties. This Review discusses how understanding these properties through tightly connected experimental and computational investigations can strengthen their impact from catalysis to biomedical applications.

Ultrafast spectroscopies enable the characterization of quantum materials and of their functional properties arising from strong correlations and electronic topology. This Review discusses three emerging techniques: attosecond transient absorption spectroscopy, solid-state high-harmonic generation spectroscopy and extreme ultraviolet-second harmonic generation spectroscopy.

Biology can help to design materials and approaches for tumour tissue engineering. Biomaterials are a requisite for modelling cancer to rebuild tissue organization, composition and function. This Review discusses bioengineering strategies that recreate the pathophysiology of tumour tissues to address questions in cancer research.

Machine learning is increasingly popular in materials science research. This Review generalizes learnings from applied machine learning in robotics and gameplaying and extends it to materials science. In particular, hybrid approaches combining model-based and data-driven models are seeding the transition from the application of machine learning to discrete tools and workflows towards emergent knowledge.

Clamping devices have been implemented in organ-on-a-chip systems to facilitate on-chip culture of complex biological models, the performance of various readouts and the selection of proper materials. In this Review, we highlight the current status of clamping technology, its benefits and future devices that promise a major impact in the organ-on-a-chip field.

Nucleic acids for gene silencing, expression and editing can precisely target disease at the molecular level but require effective delivery systems. This Review discusses the material and biological principles used to design delivery systems to target specific organs in the body.

This work provides an overview of stability in perovskite–Si tandem solar cells, elucidates key tandem-specific degradation mechanisms, considers economic factors for perovskite–Si tandem solar cells and outlines future research directions to achieve the long-term stability necessary for the commercialization of this promising technology.