Reviews & Analysis

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  • Graphene is potentially attractive for electrochemical energy storage devices but whether it will lead to real technological progress is still unclear. Recent applications of graphene in battery technology and electrochemical capacitors are now assessed critically.

    • Rinaldo Raccichini
    • Alberto Varzi
    • Bruno Scrosati
    Progress Article
  • Temperature can switch the thermodynamic phase of colloid–polymer mixtures by tipping the balance between competing attractive interactions induced by polymer depletion or adsorption.

    • Ah-Young Jee
    • Boyce Tsang
    • Steve Granick
    News & Views
  • Computer simulations of one-component three-dimensional icosahedral quasicrystals will help to understand the mechanisms that may stabilize them in experiments.

    • Marc de Boissieu
    News & Views
  • Circularly polarized light actualizes the formation of chiral twisted ribbons from achiral semiconductor nanoparticles.

    • Bart Kahr
    • Alexander G. Shtukenberg
    News & Views
  • Janus ellipsoids self-assemble into self-limiting fibres that can be reversibly actuated by applying an electric field.

    • Eric M. Furst
    News & Views
  • The nucleation of a crystal within another can involve intermediate liquid nuclei.

    • Eduardo Sanz
    • Chantal Valeriani
    News & Views
  • The migration of ions under the effect of an external electric field locally modifies the doping of organometal halide perovskite films. This is used to reversibly switch the photocurrent direction in very simple photovoltaic architectures.

    • Nam-Gyu Park
    News & Views
  • Individual spins, associated with vacancies in the silicon carbide lattice, have been observed and coherently manipulated. This may offer new directions for integrated spintronic devices.

    • Andrea Morello
    News & Views
  • By carefully selecting only two elemental 'building block materials' at the nanoscale, it is possible to digitally design composite electromagnetic media with properties vastly different from their individual constituents and suitable for performing complex optical functions.

    • Luca Dal Negro
    News & Views
  • High electrical contact resistance had stalled the promised performance of two-dimensional layered devices. Low-resistance metal–semiconductor contacts are now obtained by interfacing semiconducting MoS2 layers with the metallic phase of this material.

    • Debdeep Jena
    • Kaustav Banerjee
    • Grace Huili Xing
    News & Views
  • Three independent groups report the growth of two-dimensional heteromaterials with seamless vertical or lateral interfaces. The one-layer-thick transition metal dichalcogenides thus form heterojunctions with built-in device function.

    • Georg S. Duesberg
    News & Views
  • Analysis of the growth patterns of calcitic prisms within the shell of the fan mollusc Pinna nobilis shows that growth can be predicted using grain theory and that the organic casings of the prisms set the thermodynamic boundaries.

    • Nico A. J. M. Sommerdijk
    • Maggie Cusack
    News & Views
  • Hexagonal boron nitride nanostructures are shown to sustain phonon–polariton modes with comparable performances to plasmon–polariton modes in graphene but with lower losses.

    • Zubin Jacob
    News & Views
  • This Review discusses the common structural motifs of a range of natural materials and the difficulties associated with mimicking these designs in the fabrication of synthetic structures with enhanced mechanical properties.

    • Ulrike G. K. Wegst
    • Hao Bai
    • Robert O. Ritchie
    Review Article
  • Metallic nanocrystals can be deformed pseudoelastically at room temperature without generating dislocations.

    • Claude R. Henry
    News & Views
  • The combination of topological constraints and deformability in an active system of microtubules and molecular motors leads to rich dynamic behaviour.

    • Julia M. Yeomans
    News & Views