Reviews & Analysis

Immobilization of membrane-bound proteins in inorganic matrices could allow creation of materials capable of mimicking biological processes. Advances in sol–gel biocomposites have now allowed development of a material that can use light to drive biosynthesis of ATP.

To date, nanoparticles and their simple assemblies have attracted interest from many branches of science. The next step entails building complex structures with these particles in the way that atoms and molecules are put together in nature. Materials scientists may soon find a whole new set of building blocks in their toolbox.

Silicon nanocrystals provide efficient means of generating light that is both tunable and compatible with conventional microelectronics. However, progress has been hampered by difficulties in achieving efficient carrier injection. A new approach could provide the solution.

The experimental proof that single molecules may act as electronic devices has been evasive. A comprehensive set of proof-of-concept experiments has just defeated this hurdle.

Combination of silicon and polymer microfabrication with directed growth of muscle cells leads to integration of muscle function into microelectromechanical systems. These hybrid systems enable detailed functional understanding of the biological components and new applications as biomicromechanical devices.

Understanding and tuning the insulating tunnel barrier layer in magnetic tunnel junctions is key to developing commercial spintronic devices. A naturally self-assembled insulating layer on bilayer manganites provides a highly sensitive model system.

Chemists have sent molecules to primary school in the past decade. Now individual molecules can carry out addition and subtraction using different chemicals as the input bits and two fluorescence colours as the output bits.

A detailed ab initio model of ferroelectric ordering in thin films shows that phase transitions and ferroelectric bistability occur down to diameters of 3.2 nm in nanodisks and nanorods. Unexpected circular or toroidal ordering of dipoles describes the low-temperature ground state, rather than conventional parallel or antiparallel atomic displacements.

The engineering performance of materials is controlled to a large extent by their elastic stress/strain response. The first X-ray strain measurements in amorphous metals allow for new understanding of complex glassy materials.

The optical properties of lyotropic liquid crystals formed by a multilayer stack of lipid membranes have attracted growing interest owing to their potential use in photonics. A new study demonstrates unprecedented dynamic control over the order of such systems

Materials that exhibit both ferromagnetism and ferroelectricity could be useful, but they are unfortunately very rare. Could a new proposal for combining the two properties point the way forward?

Iron oxide-doped photonic crystals are a simple means to wrap fluid droplets and control their movement. But they are also clever because they can be 'bar-coded' and have in-built sensing capabilities, which makes them exceptional candidates for microfluidic devices.

Supramolecular engineering using self-assembly aims to develop complex functional materials and devices. The fabrication of acentric organic films by physical vapour deposition for electro-optic applications illustrates the potential of such bio-inspired approaches.

The spreading of metallic liquid drops on flat solid metal or ceramic substrates ranges from milliseconds — comparable to room-temperature spreading of water on glass — to hours. This varying timescale can be understood by what happens — or doesn't happen — at the foot of the drop where the liquid surface contacts the substrate.