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A modular approach of photoreversible patterning of macromolecules with high spatiotemporal resolution within hydrogels is employed to generate biomaterials with controllable cell activity through site-specific immobilization of proteins.
Non-orthogonal magnetization switching is related to the shear strain associated with ferroelectric domains, with implications for magnetoelectric devices.
Porous molecular crystals are easy to fabricate but thought to have limited stability as they are bound by non-covalent interactions. Here, a porous crystal composed of C60 and phthalocyanine is demonstrated with stability to heat, acid, base and high pressures.
Magneto-optical spectroscopy shows that the dark exciton state in single formamidinium lead bromide perovskite nanocrystals is located below the bright exciton triplet. Slow bright-to-dark relaxation explains the intense brightness of the nanoparticles.
By exciting chiral plasmons within a nanohole by means of circularly polarized light pulses, orbital angular momentum can be imparted onto charged matter waves (here, electrons) and controlled at terahertz speed (femtosecond intervals).
The remote, non-volatile and reversible optical control of ferroic orders is challenging. Here, using laser illumination, multiple orders in epitaxial mixed-phase BiFeO3 are manipulated deterministically using a thermally driven flexoelectric effect.
Hole and electron traps related to the presence of trace water are found in organic semiconductor thin films, at an energy offset of ~0.3–0.4 eV from the highest occupied and lowest unoccupied molecular orbitals, respectively.
Reversible and cooperative activation processes are important characteristics of biological enzymes and can be used in designing catalysts. Highly active TiO2 photocatalysts incorporated with site-specific single copper atoms are now shown to exhibit such a photoactivation process.
Oxide-supported isolated Pt-group metal atoms as catalytic active sites are of interest because of their unique reactivity. Isolated Pt species are now shown to adopt a range of local coordination environments and oxidation states in response to environmental conditions.
Plasmonic catalysis is believed to be mediated by energy transfer from nanoparticles to adsorbed molecules. Localized surface plasmon resonance on gold nanoparticles excited by electron beam is shown to drive site-selective CO disproportionation at room temperature.
Solution shearing of semiconducting polymers with a patterned blade induces improved alignment of the polymeric chains at the nano- and macroscale. This leads to increased charge transport in stretchable, roll-to-roll deposited organic transistors.
The structural foundation of self-assembled peptide materials is typically the β-sheet. Here the authors describe peptides made of three natural amino acids that self-assemble into helical-like superstructures with enhanced mechanical rigidity.
Sensing hydrogen by the change in plasmonic response upon metal hydride formation is safe, but trace gas poisoning and low sensitivity can occur. Here, a PdAu alloy/polymer sensor is poison resistant and can sense 3 ppm H2 with a response time of 1 s.
Generating electricity by low-grade thermal harvesting requires a low-cost technology. Here, by chemically treating wood, aligned cellulose molecular chains form that confine sodium ions in the sub-nanometre channels and enhance selective diffusion, generating differential thermal voltage of 24 mV K–1.
An intermediate affinity state of integrins on platelets has been identified to be induced by a biomechanical activation pathway and is shown to promote platelet aggregation.
Although anionic redox in Li- and Na-rich transition metal oxides can enhance energy density of rechargeable batteries, anionic capacity is partly irreversible in discharge. A unified picture to clarify this irreversibility and to improve cycling performance is proposed.
A single-band metal whose carriers behave as electrons or holes depending on the direction of travel is observed. The effect arises from a particular type of Fermi surface geometry.
High mobility and high carrier density are found in the Weyl semimetal NbAs. This is attributed to the low dissipation of disorder-tolerant Fermi arcs.