Volume 16 Issue 2, February 2017

Manipulation of the magnetic state in spin valve structures by superconductivity has now been achieved, opening a new route for the development of ultra-fast cryogenic memories.

A single transport function has been developed to describe the temperature and energy dependence of charge transport in insulating, semiconducting and metallic polymers.

X-ray imaging in three dimensions is now possible from a set of 2D coherent Bragg diffraction patterns. This approach overcomes the necessity of having to rotate the sample for a 3D reconstruction.

By making use of a semiconducting metal–organic graphene analogue, researchers propose a new generation of supercapacitors with potential as tunable molecular materials for energy.

The current state-of-the-art and possible future developments on two-dimensional silicene, germanene, and stanene sheets (called 2D-Xenes), and their ligand-functionalized derivatives (Xanes), are discussed.

This Review discusses the different, state-of-the-art applications of heterostructures containing at least one layer of a two-dimensional (2D) material, combined with 0D, 1D and 3D nano-objects.

This Review discusses the properties of polariton modes (plasmon, phonon and exciton) in graphene, hexagonal boron nitride and transition metal dichalcogenides for applications across the terahertz to visible spectrum.

The superconductivity is found to control the magnetic configuration in GdN/Nb/GdN spin valves as a result of an antiferromagnetic exchange interaction arising from the coupling between the superconducting condensation energy and the magnetic state.

TSr₃Ir₂O₇ is shown to realize a weak Mott state with no cuprate analogue and to exhibit, when electron doped, a charge density wave-like Fermi surface instability with unconventional and possibly short-ranged nature.

A device is presented that can detect mid-infrared plasmons in graphene encapsulated by hexagonal boron nitride via the thermoelectric effect; the natural decay product of the plasmons (electronic heat) is converted into a measurable voltage signal.

The electrical control and readout of single two-level state defects in a defective oxide film grown directly on the channel of a thin-film FET allow for the extraction of individual long relaxation times.

The complex 3D structure of a quasicrystalline binary nanocrystal superlattice has been resolved by electron microscopy and tomography.

Using MOFs as active electrodes in electrochemical double layer capacitors has so far proved difficult. An electrically conductive MOF used as an electrode is now shown to exhibit electrochemical performance similar to most carbon-based materials.

A universal descriptor for the prediction of C–H bond activation barriers has been established, and combined with a thermodynamic analysis of methane activation, to provide design rules for various types of heterogeneous catalysts.

A high-throughput hydrogel-based platelet-contraction cytometer is able to quantify single-platelet contraction forces and may function as a clinical diagnostic biophysical biomarker.

Single cells encapsulated in a layer of alginate and injected intravenously delay clearance kinetics and sustain donor-derived soluble factors in vivo.

The 3D structure of a diffracting volume can be reconstructed from a set of 2D coherent Bragg diffraction patterns. The overdetermination afforded by ptychography allows the deconvolution of the third dimension, without having to rotate the sample.

A generalized charge-transport model is reported that is able to describe the thermopower–conductivity relation at various temperatures in several semiconducting polymers, suggesting a rethinking of conduction mechanisms in these materials.

An improved ligand-exchange process allows the realization of solution-deposited films of quantum dots with reduced energetic disorder and, as a result, solar cells with improved open-circuit voltage, charge-carrier transport and stability.

Plants can be engineered to serve as self-powered pre-concentrators and autosamplers of analytes in ambient groundwater and as infrared communication platforms that can send information to a smartphone.