News & Views in 2020

Ultrafast spectroscopy measurements present a new direct non-equilibrium energy transfer mechanism across a metal–semiconductor interface, without charge transfer, opening up a new avenue for plasmonic energy conversion.

The intercalation of an antennae array with a geometric Pancharatnam–Berry phase into a defective two-dimensional photonic crystal slab enables a spin-dependent splitting of directional emission in momentum space, that is, a Rashba effect for photons.

A new memory device in which the electric dipole, rather than the magnetic dipole, stores information at the single-molecule level is demonstrated.

In situ NMR and magnetic resonance imaging unravel new chemistries for the formation and growth of metal microstructures, with consequences on the solid–electrolyte interphase stability.

Overcoming the challenges of plastic detection in plants has made it possible to transfer many of the lessons learned from plant–metal nanoparticle interactions to plastic nanoparticles.

Co-drawing of metallic glass with polymers of similar viscosity–temperature behaviour enables highly uniform nanoscale cross-sectional features of various shapes in functional fibres without length limit.

A combination of two different types of sites shows high catalytic performance for selective hydrogenation due to hydrogen spillover.

Breaking the mirror symmetry in twisted bilayer MoSe₂ results in large scale exciton dipole oriented domains in a two-dimensional homostructure.

Tuning the twist angle in bilayer transitional metal dichalcogenides yields ordered structural phases with mesoscopically modulated electronic properties revealed by the combination of electron and scanning probe microscopies.

Nitric oxide, a gaseous neurotransmitter, can be electrochemically generated inside the brain to activate calcium ion channels, paving the way for implantable neurotransmitter probes.

Lattices of magnetic whirls are a promising model system to study phases and phase transitions in two dimensions.

A new electrolyte gating technique probes the dynamics of the electrical double layer at the electrode–electrolyte interface. The experiments reveal an ion nanoconfinement effect that may help to explain supercapacitor charging mechanisms.

Radiative Auger processes in the single-photon limit provide insights in single particle states of quantum dots, which remain otherwise inaccessible.

An approach to identify and classify different shapes of nanomaterials starting from transmission electron microscopy images could be a powerful instrument to categorize the different shapes of nanoparticles and fingerprint the geometrical variability of an ensemble.

Increased delivery to immune cells in the cortex and paracortex of the lymph node can be achieved by conjugating cargo to nanoparticles via linkers that release at programmable rates.

Simultaneous electrodeposition of metals facilitates the realization of memrisitive devices with high yield and improved reliability.

A molecular reaction network translated from a computer-trained classifier can distinguish lung cancer patients from healthy individuals based on specific microRNAs in the blood.

Vibration modes of a single bacterium are detected experimentally by an optomechanical microcavity, providing a new method for vibrational spectrometry.

Combining single-molecule localization microscopy with flow cytometry and three-dimensional localization enables the high throughput and precise localization of fluorescent molecules in live flowing cells.