Volume 18 Issue 11, November 2019

Shape-directed assembly of engineered microparticles enables multicomponent machines that can reconfigure dynamically to control their field-driven locomotion.

A molecular pathway has been identified in the regulation of unjamming to overcome cancer cell migration and proliferation arrest leading to collective cell invasion.

The non-contact friction between a metal tip and a Bi₂Te₃ surface is controlled by a single charge in an image potential state.

Physical confinement and magnetic fields are used to align organic molecules that self-assemble into large-size single crystals with perfect positional order.

Ultralow-threshold plasmonic lasers under continuous-wave pumping at room temperature have been created using lattice plasmonic cavities integrated with gain material consisting of upconverting nanoparticles.

Nanovoids in organic semiconductors can serve as hosts for water inclusions that lead to trapping of electrons and holes.

Scientists recently gathered in Asilomar, California, to discuss the latest developments in bioelectronics research. Interfaces between our body and advanced technologies for biomedical and other applications are becoming ever more diverse and effective.

Spatially resolved electron microscopy techniques, such as cathodoluminescence and electron energy-loss spectroscopy can provide high space, energy and time resolutions for the structural and optical characterization of materials; this Review discusses recent progress and future directions in the field of nanophotonics.

Plasmonic array nanolasers with Yb³⁺/Er³⁺-co-doped upconverting nanoparticles exhibit directional single-mode emission, with ultra-stable output over hours and with ultralow-threshold under continuous-wave pumping.

Zeolites are industrially useful catalysts, but their synthesis is poorly understood and many predicted structures remain unsynthesized. Machine learning and graph theory are used respectively to mine the literature on zeolite transformations and to predict similar zeolite pairs that may easily be transformed into each other.

Water clusters induce hole traps in organic semiconductor thin films. Detrimental effects of hole and electron traps on charge transport can be avoided by using materials with ionization energy and electron affinity within an energy window of 2.4 eV.

A very large spin-to-charge conversion arising from a combination of the Rashba effect and topologically non-trivial states is realized at the interface of strontium titanate and aluminium, with implications for the role of topology in memory and transistor designs.

A d-wave superconductor is used to mediate a long-range exchange coupling between two ferromagnetic insulators.

Non-contact dissipation measurements reveal an interplay between electronic states and nanomechanics in Bi₂Te₃, a canonical topological insulator with protected metallic surface states.

It is believed that the strengthening of metals by formation of nanoscale grains or coherent twin boundaries is limited to a maximum strength. Here, using experiment and theory, it is shown that the fabrication of nanocrystalline-nanotwinned Ag with trace Cu results in a hardness beyond this limit.

The catalytic activity of metals supported on oxides depends on charge and oxidation states, but charge transfer at the interface is not well understood. A model investigating the dynamic charges and oxidation states of Pt/CeO₂ single-atom catalysts now clarifies the nature of the active site.

Aqueous electrocatalytic reduction of CO₂ into alcohol and hydrocarbon fuels is a sustainable route towards energy-rich chemical feedstocks. A superhydrophobic surface of hierarchically structured Cu dendrites exhibits a significant increase in CO₂ reduction selectivity.

Addition of MXenes in the halide perovskite film, in the electron transport layer and at the interface between these layers is shown to enhance the efficiency of and reduce hysteresis in perovskite solar cells.

Macroscopic single crystals with controlled texture are formed from a self-assembled columnar discotic liquid crystal.

Mobile micromachines with advanced configurations and functions self-assembled through designed dielectrophoretic interactions between structural and motor units.

A RAB5A-mediated, epidermal growth factor-dependent activation of endosomal ERK1/2 is identified as a key molecular route for a solid-to-liquid-like phase transition, sufficient to overcome kinetic and proliferation arrest in normal mammary epithelial assemblies and to promote collective invasion in breast carcinoma.