Volume 8 Issue 2, February 2023

Despite concrete being the most prominent building material of the twentieth century, the cultural heritage relevance of concrete buildings and the importance of their preservation is not widely recognized. The European Union project InnovaConcrete’s purpose is to develop nanotechnology-based treatments for concrete preservation and to increase citizen awareness around the importance of concrete-based heritage.

An article in Nature Communications reports an environmentally friendly and selective way to synthesize propylene and propylene oxide.

An article in Science reports new insight in the formation of defects during 3D printing of metals and presents a highly accurate method to track defects as they form, opening the way for closed-loop control systems.

An article in ACS Nano uses a nonspecific crosslinker to covalently stabilize a variety of 2D and 3D nanocrystal superlattices.

An article in Science Advances explains the mechanisms behind the durability of ancient Roman concrete.

Materials for extreme environments can help to protect people, structures and the planet. Extreme temperatures in aeroplane engines, hypervelocity micrometeoroid impacts on satellites, high-speed machining of ceramics and strong radiation doses in nuclear reactors are just some examples of extreme conditions that materials need to withstand. In this Viewpoint, experts working on materials for different types of extreme environments discuss the most exciting advances, opportunities and bottlenecks in their fields.

In perovskite solar cells, metal-oxide/perovskite interfaces suffer from a combination of issues related to interfacial defects, charge transfer, chemical stability and delamination, limiting performance. This Review discusses how molecular engineering of metal-oxide/perovskite interfaces with self-assembled monolayers can provide a solution and help to bring perovskite solar cells to market.

The emergence of new materials and cell designs is enabling the transition of aqueous batteries into competitive candidates for reliable and affordable energy storage. This Review critically examines the scientific advances that have enabled such a transition and explores future research prospects.

DNA origami nanostructures are useful constructs for biophysical and therapeutic studies. This Review discusses how these nanostructures are functionalized with bioactive conjugates, purified and characterized, and compares the advantages and limitations of these methods in the context of different applications.