Volume 8 Issue 1, January 2023

Pressure-sensitive adhesives are familiar household items spanning applications in everyday repair, office supplies and topical wound care. Through innovations in material and polymer science, pressure-sensitive adhesives will advance from current commodity to new specialty materials with resulting new clinical uses and improved patient care.

An article in the Journal of the American Chemical Society presents metal–organic frameworks with Olympic rings-inspired structures.

An article in Nature Nanotechnology reports the phase-controlled synthesis of centimetre-scale films of the 2D ferroelectric In₂Se₃.

An article in Nature Communications sheds light on the influence of the number of layers in the sample on sliding ferroelectricity based on measurements on rhombohedral MoS₂.

An article in the Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters reports the use of intercalation of Cu or Ag atoms in the 2D magnet CrI₃ to obtain 2D multiferroic materials.

Mechanical force modulates the conformation and function of individual proteins, and this underpins many mechanically driven cellular processes. This Review addresses single-molecule force spectroscopy experiments conducted on proteins with a known role in mechanosensing and mechanotransduction in eukaryotic cells.

van der Waals ferroelectrics are different from conventional oxide or polymer-based ferroelectrics in terms of both crystal structure and functionality. This Review discusses the experimentally verified van der Waals ferroelectrics, their unique characteristics and their potential applications in post-Moore’s law electronics.

Introduction of guest species into archetype materials lays out a foundational pathway for creating new materials classes with desired functionalities. This Review discusses two main strategies of such applied to 2D layered materials: gating, where the guest species rest on the surface, and intercalation, where the guest species are incorporated into the host lattice.

Redox-active organic materials are a promising electrode material for next-generation batteries, owing to their potential cost-effectiveness and eco-friendliness. This Review compares the performance of redox-active organic materials from a practical viewpoint and discusses their potential in various post-lithium-ion-battery platforms.