Volume 20 Issue 11, November 2021

Nanoarchitected carbon composed of intricate tube-in-tube beams connected with nanostruts has been fabricated, achieving both ultralightweight and ultrahigh modulus.

A transparent suspension containing colloidal silica is used to additively manufacture three-dimensional structures and photonic devices of silica glass at the nanoscale.

Centimetre-scale crack-free metal nanolattices are realized, enabling outstanding high tensile strength in low-density materials.

Passivation of traps via site-specific surface doping allows access to the intrinsic properties of organic semiconductors and leads to the observation of electron atmospheres in organic crystals.

A functional bioadhesive has been developed to possess properties such as mechanical compliance, electrical conductivity and optical transparency, and is utilized for bonding electronic devices to various organs in the body for up to several months.

This Perspective addresses the properties of strongly correlated materials, with a particular focus on computational, synthetic and spectroscopic approaches.

This Perspective discusses biological barriers that have limited clinical translation of cancer nanomedicines and elaborates on new directions for the field that capitalize on a deeper understanding of the nano–bio interface.

Atomic-scale visualization of the superfluid velocity field, the electron-pair density and the superfluid current density in an electron-pair superfluid surrounding an Abrikosov vortex in a superconducting sample of NbSe₂ is demonstrated, using superconducting-tip scanning tunnelling microscopy.

Solid electrolytes are promising for enabling the use of Li metal anodes but Li infiltration along grain boundaries can lead to battery failure. Li infiltration in a model solid oxide electrolyte is now found to be strongly associated with local electronic band structure.

Nanoarchitected materials have predominantly been studied in the quasi-static regime. Here, the supersonic microparticle impact regime for three-dimensional nanomaterials is uncovered, showcasing extreme energy dissipation and a predictive framework for damage.

A nanoscale tube-in-tube sandwich structure is generated by a two-step templating-pyrolysis process, which strengthens the log-pile carbon architecture and slows down the decrease of stiffness with decreasing density.

A 3D-printing technique has been developed to create high-quality pure silica nanostructures with sub-200 nm resolution and the flexible capability of rare-earth element doping. It shows excellent application potential in three-dimensional micro- and nanophotonics.

Metal nanolattices are fabricated at an unprecedented scale by using a crack-free self-assembly method. The dense nanostructures enable tensile strengths that approach the theoretical limit.

The authors combine simultaneous transport and X-ray diffraction measurements with in-situ tunable strain to measure the temperature dependence of the shear modulus and elastoresistivity above the nematic transition and the spontaneous orthorhombicity and resistivity anisotropy below the nematic transition of Co-doped BaFe₂As₂.

A thermal signature of the chiral anomaly is reported in an ideal Weyl semimetal.

Organic semiconductor crystals can be selectively doped at the crystallographic step edges, deactivating shallow traps and recovering band-like transport. The space charge induced by chemical doping is observed by scanning Kelvin probe microscopy.

A strategy to confine phosphorescent organic chromophores within ionic crystals proves effective in suppressing non-radiative recombination channels and increasing the phosphorescence efficiency of blue-emitting heavy-atom-free emitters.

Insertion compounds in layered oxide or sulfide electrodes provide the fundamental basis of current commercialized Li-ion batteries. The feasibility of reversibly intercalating Li⁺ electrochemically into halide compounds via the use of superconcentrated electrolytes is now demonstrated.

Membrane distillation can use low-grade heat for salt water desalination, but the materials used can often suffer from limited permeance. Here, a strategy is proposed to construct a pore surface and size functionality gradient in a covalent organic framework, enabling a flux of 600 l m^–2 h^–1 with NaCl rejection of 99.99%.

A functional interfacial material has been developed for soft integration of bioelectronic devices with biological tissues. This has been applied in battery-free optoelectronic systems for deep-brain optogenetics and subdermal phototherapy as well as wireless millimetre-scale pacemakers and flexible multielectrode epicardial arrays.

An erbium(III)–bacteriochlorin probe with large Stokes shift and efficient near-infrared to near-infrared energy conversion enables multiplexed imaging of deep tissues in living animals.