Volume 18 Issue 6, June 2019

2D materials towards industrialization

Academia and industry are seeking ways to integrate 2D materials in practical and commercial applications.

See Editorial, Comment by Lin et al., Comment by Neumaier et al., News & Views by Ugeda, Perspective by Rhodes et al., Review by Bae et al. and Article by Lin et al.

Image: Peng Lin, MIT, Penn State. Cover Design: David Shand.

Editorial

Editorial | 21 May 2019

Moving towards the market

2D materials face challenges along the road to commercialization, with increasing efforts being made in order to satisfy industrial needs.
Focus:
- 2D materials from lab to Industry

Comment

Comment | 21 May 2019

Synthesis challenges for graphene industry

The past few years have witnessed significant development in graphene research, yet a number of challenges remain for its commercialization and industrialization. This Comment discusses relevant issues for industrial-scale graphene synthesis, one of the critical aspects for the future graphene industry.
- Li Lin
- , Hailin Peng
- & Zhongfan Liu
Focus:
- 2D materials from lab to Industry
Comment | 21 May 2019

Integrating graphene into semiconductor fabrication lines

Electronic and photonic devices based on graphene have unique properties, leading to outstanding performance figures of merit. Mastering the integration of this unconventional material into an established semiconductor fabrication line represents a critical step towards commercialization.
- Daniel Neumaier
- , Stephan Pindl
- & Max C. Lemme
Focus:
- 2D materials from lab to Industry

News & Views

News & Views | 21 May 2019

A pulpy story

Over-expression of a transcriptional factor, Alx3, has been shown to revitalize the regenerative capacity of adult progenitor cells to promote enhanced stromal vascularization and formation of parenchymal dental pulp tissue in vivo.
- Sarah E. Millar
News & Views | 21 May 2019

Polarity is a matter of perspective

The polarity of charge carriers — positive or negative — is found to depend on the direction from which you look.
- Brian Skinner
- & Justin C. W. Song
News & Views | 06 May 2019

Vorticity induced by chiral plasmonic fields

Coherent shaping of matter waves in temporal and spatial domains by photon-induced near fields opens up new possibilities for the quantum control of matter.
- Jun Yuan
News & Views | 21 May 2019

Small change
- Philip Ball
News & Views | 21 May 2019

Power from nano-engineered wood

By chemically treating wood it is possible to fabricate a nanofluidic device for generating electricity from the harvesting of ubiquitous low-grade heat.
- Rama Venkatasubramanian
News & Views | 21 May 2019

Tender X-rays

A tender X-ray momentum-resolved spectroscopy for probing elementary excitations in 4d quantum materials is reported and used to measure dispersive spin excitations in a ruthenate microcrystal.
- Wei-Sheng Lee
- & Brian Moritz
News & Views | 21 May 2019

Stable in harsh environments

An oxygen-free method of growing transition metal selenides leads to atomically thin films with unprecedented robustness against the most hostile conditions.
- Miguel M. Ugeda
Focus:
- 2D materials from lab to Industry

Perspectives

Perspective | 21 May 2019

Disorder in van der Waals heterostructures of 2D materials

Disorder in two-dimensional materials largely affects their properties and performance. This Perspective discusses disorder sources in graphene and transition metal dichalcogenides, the progress in disorder control, and possible uses of disorder.
- Daniel Rhodes
- , Sang Hoon Chae
- & James Hone
Focus:
- 2D materials from lab to Industry

Review Articles

Review Article | 21 May 2019

Integration of bulk materials with two-dimensional materials for physical coupling and applications

Integrating 3D bulk materials with 2D layered materials can harness promising properties and unique functions. This Review discusses the progress in the fabrication, physical coupling and potential applications of 3D/2D hybrid heterostructures.
- Sang-Hoon Bae
- , Hyun Kum
- & Jeehwan Kim
Focus:
- 2D materials from lab to Industry

Letters

Letter | 25 March 2019

Spin waves and spin-state transitions in a ruthenate high-temperature antiferromagnet

Resonant inelastic X-ray scattering at the 4d-edge reveals dispersive magnetic excitations in SrRu₂O₆, providing insight into the origin of its high Néel temperature.
- H. Suzuki
- , H. Gretarsson
- & B. Keimer

Articles

Article | 18 March 2019

The Fermi surface geometrical origin of axis-dependent conduction polarity in layered materials

A single-band metal whose carriers behave as electrons or holes depending on the direction of travel is observed. The effect arises from a particular type of Fermi surface geometry.
- Bin He
- , Yaxian Wang
- & Joseph P. Heremans
Article | 06 May 2019

Ultrafast generation and control of an electron vortex beam via chiral plasmonic near fields

By exciting chiral plasmons within a nanohole by means of circularly polarized light pulses, orbital angular momentum can be imparted onto charged matter waves (here, electrons) and controlled at terahertz speed (femtosecond intervals).
- G. M. Vanacore
- , G. Berruto
- & F. Carbone
Article | 06 May 2019

Deterministic optical control of room temperature multiferroicity in BiFeO₃ thin films

The remote, non-volatile and reversible optical control of ferroic orders is challenging. Here, using laser illumination, multiple orders in epitaxial mixed-phase BiFeO₃ are manipulated deterministically using a thermally driven flexoelectric effect.
- Yi-De Liou
- , Yu-You Chiu
- & Jan-Chi Yang
Article | 22 April 2019

General rule for the energy of water-induced traps in organic semiconductors

Hole and electron traps related to the presence of trace water are found in organic semiconductor thin films, at an energy offset of ~0.3–0.4 eV from the highest occupied and lowest unoccupied molecular orbitals, respectively.
- Guangzheng Zuo
- , Mathieu Linares
- & Martijn Kemerink
Article | 15 April 2019

Multi-scale ordering in highly stretchable polymer semiconducting films

Solution shearing of semiconducting polymers with a patterned blade induces improved alignment of the polymeric chains at the nano- and macroscale. This leads to increased charge transport in stretchable, roll-to-roll deposited organic transistors.
- Jie Xu
- , Hung-Chin Wu
- & Zhenan Bao
Article | 11 March 2019

Growth of environmentally stable transition metal selenide films

Wafer-scale two-dimensional transition metal selenides, with high structural quality and environmental stability, can be obtained by two-step vapour deposition in oxygen-free conditions. The grown films maintain robust superconductivity even after harsh treatments.
- Huihui Lin
- , Qi Zhu
- & Libo Gao
Focus:
- 2D materials from lab to Industry
Article | 25 March 2019

Cellulose ionic conductors with high differential thermal voltage for low-grade heat harvesting

Generating electricity by low-grade thermal harvesting requires a low-cost technology. Here, by chemically treating wood, aligned cellulose molecular chains form that confine sodium ions in the sub-nanometre channels and enhance selective diffusion, generating differential thermal voltage of 24 mV K^–1.
- Tian Li
- , Xin Zhang
- & Liangbing Hu
Article | 15 April 2019

Site-selective CO disproportionation mediated by localized surface plasmon resonance excited by electron beam

Plasmonic catalysis is believed to be mediated by energy transfer from nanoparticles to adsorbed molecules. Localized surface plasmon resonance on gold nanoparticles excited by electron beam is shown to drive site-selective CO disproportionation at room temperature.
- Wei-Chang D. Yang
- , Canhui Wang
- & Renu Sharma
Article | 22 April 2019

Reversible and cooperative photoactivation of single-atom Cu/TiO₂ photocatalysts

Reversible and cooperative activation processes are important characteristics of biological enzymes and can be used in designing catalysts. Highly active TiO₂ photocatalysts incorporated with site-specific single copper atoms are now shown to exhibit such a photoactivation process.
- Byoung-Hoon Lee
- , Sunghak Park
- & Taeghwan Hyeon
Article | 21 May 2019

Parenchymal and stromal tissue regeneration of tooth organ by pivotal signals reinstated in decellularized matrix

The Alx3 transcription factor, expressed in prenatal tooth development, is shown to revitalize adult progenitor cells in decellularized scaffolds, leading to enhanced parenchymal dental pulp and vascularized stroma regeneration in vivo.
- Ling He
- , Jian Zhou
- & Jeremy Mao
Article | 21 May 2019

A mechano-signalling network linking microtubules, myosin IIA filaments and integrin-based adhesions

Crosstalk between microtubules and the actin cytoskeleton of cells is important in elucidating integrin-mediated adhesion and mechanotransduction. It is now shown that microtubule-mediated control of focal adhesions and podosomes occurs via KANK family proteins.
- Nisha Bte Mohd Rafiq
- , Yukako Nishimura
- & Alexander D. Bershadsky

Amendments & Corrections

Author Correction | 10 May 2019

Author Correction: Electrotunable nanoplasmonic liquid mirror
- Yunuen Montelongo
- , Debabrata Sikdar
- & Alexei A. Kornyshev