Reviews & Analysis

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  • Single-crystal black phosphorus nanoribbons have been grown through chemical vapour transport, using black phosphorus nanoparticles as seeds. The nanoribbons orient exclusively along the zigzag direction and have good semiconductor properties that render them suitable for use as channel material in field-effect transistors.

    Research Briefing
  • Restricting the directional segregation of mobile ions via strategic local ion confinement allows remarkable thermoelectric performance with better stability.

    • Animesh Bhui
    • Kanishka Biswas
    News & Views
  • The atomic reconstruction and stacking arrangement in twisted trilayer graphene with a range of varying twist angles are elucidated by four-dimensional scanning transmission electron microscopy, revealing the hierarchical moiré of moiré superstructures that govern the structural symmetry at different length scales.

    • Ruichun Luo
    • Wu Zhou
    News & Views
  • Cancer cells adjust the composition of their glycocalyx to increase its thickness and create a physical barrier that shields them from immune recognition and engagement.

    • Edward N. Schmidt
    • Matthew S. Macauley
    News & Views
  • 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.

    • Hanyu Zhu
    • Boris I. Yakobson
    Perspective
  • Electronic moiré patterns can be imprinted remotely onto a target quantum material, inducing exotic interacting behaviour.

    • Arpit Arora
    • Justin C. W. Song
    News & Views
  • Considering responsive materials as transient collective assemblies rather than individual shape-changing objects allows for emergent functionalities that cannot be derived from the properties of single objects but are driven by interactions between them.

    • Arri Priimagi
    News & Views
  • Early detection of electrical degradation can be identified by colour change due to the chromogenic response of blended molecules in dielectric polymers.

    • Gregory A. Sotzing
    • Pritish S. Aklujkar
    News & Views
  • Metal monochalcogenides — a class of van der Waals layered semiconductors — can exhibit ultrahigh plasticity. Investigation of the deformation mechanism reveals that on mechanical loading, these materials undergo local phase transitions that, coupled with the concurrent generation of a microcrack network, give rise to the ultrahigh plasticity.

    Research Briefing
  • Inspired by the observed coherent interface between hexagonal α-Fe2O3 and tetragonal fluorine-doped SnO2, an oxygen sublattice-matching paradigm is proposed to grow textured films on lattice-mismatched substrates. Through assessing the similarity of Voronoi cells for sublattices, this approach offers opportunities to synthesize (semi)coherent heterostructures and textured films.

    Research Briefing
  • An important but difficult separation, the removal of carbon monoxide from humid gas mixtures comprising oxygen, nitrogen and hydrocarbons, is addressed by exploiting Cu(I) coordination chemistry and framework flexibility.

    • Michael J. Zaworotko
    News & Views
  • Engineered ligand shells on gold nanoclusters utilizing molecular motion improve the thermal conductance between the cluster and the solvent, increasing thermal stability and enhancing performance in the photothermal treatment of cancerous tumours.

    • Jacob L. Beckham
    • James M. Tour
    News & Views
  • Incorporating additives that contain hydrogen-bonding nanochannels creates nanoconfined polymer gels that are highly stretchable, elastic and insensitive to notch propagation.

    • Meixiang Wang
    • Michael D. Dickey
    News & Views