Perspectives

Molecular materials for computing progress intensively but the performance and reliability still lag behind. Here the authors assess the current state of computing with molecular-based materials and describe two issues as the basis of a new computing technology: continued exploration of molecular electronic properties and process development for on-chip integration.

Two-dimensional (2D) materials, despite their small thickness, can display chirality that enables prominent asymmetric optical, electrical transport, and magnetic properties. This Perspective discusses the intriguing physics enabled by the structural chirality and the possible ways to create and control chirality in 2D materials.

This Perspective provides an overview on the emergent field of colloidal robotics, discussing recent developments on colloidal and micrometre-sized particles that can perform functions such as sensing, communication, computation and motion.

The commercialization of electronic textile (e-textile) products requires balanced sustainability considerations. Here the authors propose an e-textile design framework involving repair, recycle, replacement and reduction that can unify environmental friendliness, market viability, supply-chain resilience and user experience quality.

It is imperative that sustainability issues are considered throughout the life cycle of modern organic electronic devices. Here McCulloch and colleagues evaluate the status of embedded carbon, options for more sustainable materials, and recycling solutions both during manufacturing and at the end of life in organic electronic products.

Nanoscale ferroelectric topological solitons, such as polar bubbles, polar bubble skyrmions and hopfions, have garnered immense interest due to their emergent properties. This Perspective discusses how these structures form, advances in their study and how they can enable new devices and physics.

The discovery of ferroelectric switching in ultrathin layers of hafnium dioxide has aroused significant interest for low-power non-volatile memory technologies. This Perspective discusses how lessons learned from hafnium dioxide-based ferroelectrics can be applied to other applications, and other binary oxides.

Colloidal nanocrystals can form into periodic superlattices exhibiting collective vibrations from the correlated motion of the nanocrystals. This Perspective discusses such collective vibrations and their as-of-yet untapped potential applications for phononic crystals, acoustic metamaterials and optomechanical systems.

Research on two-dimensional van der Waals ferroelectrics has witnessed an explosion over the past few years. This Perspective formulates a framework by which results can be analysed, reviews recent progress, discusses mechanisms and properties for applications, and outlines challenges to be addressed.

This Perspective reviews the complementary developments in synthetic biology and biomaterials and discusses how convergence of these two fields creates a promising design strategy for the fabrication of tailored living materials for medicine and biotechnology.

Molecular weaving is the entanglement of one-dimensional flexible molecules into higher-dimensional networks. This Perspective provides an overview of the progress so far, and discusses the future challenges and potentials of this field.

This Perspective discusses the interplay between magnetism and topology in condensed matter.

This Perspective discusses biological barriers that have limited clinical translation of cancer nanomedicines and elaborates on new directions for the field that capitalize on a deeper understanding of the nano–bio interface.

An outlook on the potential of lead-halide perovskites as a playground for exciton-polariton studies and for the development of polaritonic devices operating at room temperature is provided.

This Perspective provides an overview of the different approaches used to understand the behaviour of materials at different length scales and timescales through computation, and outlines future challenges in the description of complex systems or ultrafast non-equilibrium behaviour.

This Perspective addresses the properties of strongly correlated materials, with a particular focus on computational, synthetic and spectroscopic approaches.

Highly ordered crystalline porous solids are useful for many applications. This Perspective explores the evolution of these systems from the ordered state to the glassy and liquid states, discusses the different types of porous liquid and considers possible applications of these disordered systems.

This perspective describes recent developments in genetically encoded protein contrast agents for non-invasive biological imaging, namely ultrasound, magnetic resonance and optoacoustic imaging modalities.

Recent developments in the emerging field of hybrid plasmonics focusing on fundamental aspects related to nanoscopic flow of energy and excited charge carriers in these multicomponent materials and their potential applications are now discussed.

Thermoelectric materials can generate electricity from waste heat but can also use electricity for cooling. This Perspective discusses coefficients of performance for these systems and the state-of-the-art for materials, and suggests strategies for the discovery of improved thermoelectric materials.