Volume 23 Issue 5, May 2024

A wide range of zero-dimensional powders can be converted into versatile, high-performance one-dimensional micro-/nanofibres by using two-dimensional cellulose sheets as a mediator, preserving the particles’ nanostructural features and acting as building blocks for complex geometric shapes to satisfy application requirements.

Strong bulk van der Waals materials can be created from water-mediated densification of two-dimensional nanosheets by near-room-temperature moulding, establishing a pathway for the energy-efficient fabrication of a wide range of bulk van der Waals materials and even composites for various applications.

‘Two colour’ pump–probe experiments on yttrium iron garnet discs demonstrate how to harness dissipation of magnetic oscillations. This may have important implications for the use of magnetic materials for information processing.

The slow turn-on speed in accumulation-mode organic electrochemical transistors is explained by asymmetric ion transport in switching kinetics.

Physical vapour deposition of small-molecule glass formers onto soft substrates enhances the local dynamics at the top free surface, leading to the formation of denser glasses and providing access to states deeper in the potential energy landscape.

Modified Suzuki–Miyaura polymerization procedures provide a scalable and reproducible route to regioregular conjugated polymers.

Liquid bioelectronics based on a permanent fluidic magnet made from three-dimensional assembled magnetic colloidal particles can be injected into the surface of the heart for cardiovascular monitoring and subsequently retrieved after use.

Electrocaloric effects have not hitherto been experimentally studied at a phase transition created by strain. It is now shown that the continuous transition created by epitaxial strain in strontium titanate films greatly enhances electrocaloric effects over a wide range of temperatures, including room temperature.

A universal and non-destructive technique is developed to process diverse types of powder into micro- or nanofibres, providing flexibility for material design and applications based on functional particles.

Strong bulk van der Waals materials are fabricated by the compressive moulding of two-dimensional nanosheets near room temperature through water-mediated densification, providing an energy-efficient way for synthesizing various van der Waals materials and a potential for tailoring compositions.

A large Josephson diode effect has been reported at liquid-nitrogen temperatures in twisted flakes of Bi₂Sr₂CaCu₂O_8+δ.

Topological antiferromagnetic states are generated and spatially reconfigured in free-standing crystalline membranes of haematite through strain design.

Precession phase of a magnetic material is shown to be recalled over timescales far exceeding that of Gilbert damping.

The authors combine laser excitation and scanning tunnelling spectroscopy to visualize the electron and hole distributions in photoexcited moiré excitons in twisted bilayer WS₂. This photocurrent tunnelling microscopy approach enables the study of photoexcited non-equilibrium moiré phenomena at atomic scales.

Electrocaloric effects are large in a limited set of materials that display hysteretic first-order phase transitions. Here epitaxial SrTiO₃ thin films are strain engineered to achieve anhysteretic second-order phase transitions, with electrocaloric effects enhanced by one order of magnitude over bulk.

Understanding mesoscale structure and dynamics in organic mixed ionic–electronic conductors is crucial. Mesoscale strain kinetics and structural hysteresis have been studied, and they uncover the coupling between charge carrier dynamics and mesoscale order in organic mixed ionic–electronic conductors.

The turn-off time is generally faster than the turn-on time in accumulation mode organic electrochemical transistors (OECTs), but the mechanism is less understood. Here the authors find different transient behaviours of turn-on and turn-off in accumulation mode OECTs, and ion transport is the limiting factor of device kinetics.

Solvation dynamics at picosecond timescales critically affect charge transport in aqueous systems, but conflicting values have been reported for organic electrolytes. Lifetimes on the order of 1 ns for mixtures of organic polymer and lithium salt exhibiting ultraslow dynamics of solvation shell break-up are now reported.

Fast charging is driving extensive research on enhanced electrodes for high-performance electrochemical capacitors and micro-supercapacitors. Thick ruthenium nitride pseudocapacitive films are shown to exhibit enhanced capacitance with a time constant of less than 6 s.

Active and stable catalysts to accelerate the transition from fossil fuel to renewable feedstocks, reduce energy consumption and minimize environmental footprints are needed. Electrocatalysts based on copper nanocrystals encapsulated in hybrid alumina shells stable against structural reconstruction during CO₂ electroreduction are reported.

Controlling substrate elasticity during physical vapour deposition allows access to high-density stable glasses that would otherwise be formed under prohibitively slow deposition conditions on rigid substrates.

A general process for a room-temperature, homogeneous Suzuki–Miyaura-type polymerization is reported, demonstrating a route for the scalable production of device-quality conjugated polymers.

The magnetism-mediated assembly of non-Brownian magnetic colloidal particles into a three-dimensional oriented and ramified magnetic network yields permanent fluidic magnets that are used in a self-powered, liquid-based wireless cardiovascular sensor.

Forces resulting from global cell volume expansion and local cell contractions distort the basement membrane of an in vitro three-dimensional model of breast cancer, to promote collective cell invasion that precedes metastasis.