Engineering articles within Nature Materials

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  • Article |

    The turn-off time is generally faster than the turn-on time in accumulation mode organic electrochemical transistors (OECTs), but the mechanism is less understood. Here the authors find different transient behaviours of turn-on and turn-off in accumulation mode OECTs, and ion transport is the limiting factor of device kinetics.

    • Jiajie Guo
    • , Shinya E. Chen
    •  & David S. Ginger

  • Article |

    Ion exchange is a powerful method to access metastable materials for energy storage, but identifying lithium and sodium interchange in layered oxides remains challenging. Using such model materials, vacancy level and corresponding lithium preference are shown to be crucial for ion exchange pathway accessibility.

    • Yu Han
    • , Weihang Xie
    •  & Chong Liu

  • News & Views |

    Light-driven artificial goosebumps enable the simple yet precise actuation of microstructures.

    • Jaeil Kim
    •  & Hoon Eui Jeong

  • Perspective |

    Molecular materials for computing progress intensively but the performance and reliability still lag behind. Here the authors assess the current state of computing with molecular-based materials and describe two issues as the basis of a new computing technology: continued exploration of molecular electronic properties and process development for on-chip integration.

    • R. Stanley Williams
    • , Sreebrata Goswami
    •  & Sreetosh Goswami

  • Article |

    Limited datasets hinder the accurate prediction of DNA origami structures. A data-driven and physics-informed approach for model training is presented using a graph neural network to facilitate the rapid virtual prototyping of DNA-based nanostructures.

    • Chien Truong-Quoc
    • , Jae Young Lee
    •  & Do-Nyun Kim

  • Article |

    An intelligent DNA nanodevice, composed of DNA origami nanosheets and a thrombin-responsive DNA fastener, accurately delivers the appropriate dose of tissue plasminogen activator following activation by distinct thrombosis events.

    • Jue Yin
    • , Siyu Wang
    •  & Lianhui Wang

  • News & Views |

    Early detection of electrical degradation can be identified by colour change due to the chromogenic response of blended molecules in dielectric polymers.

    • Gregory A. Sotzing
    •  & Pritish S. Aklujkar

  • Research Briefing |

    Metal monochalcogenides — a class of van der Waals layered semiconductors — can exhibit ultrahigh plasticity. Investigation of the deformation mechanism reveals that on mechanical loading, these materials undergo local phase transitions that, coupled with the concurrent generation of a microcrack network, give rise to the ultrahigh plasticity.

  • News & Views |

    Incorporating additives that contain hydrogen-bonding nanochannels creates nanoconfined polymer gels that are highly stretchable, elastic and insensitive to notch propagation.

    • Meixiang Wang
    •  & Michael D. Dickey

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Porosity of zeolitic imidazolate frameworks can be preserved beyond glass transition and melt processing. Here centimetre-scale porous glasses are demonstrated, whereas liquid processing enables fine-tuning of the size of the gas-transporting channels for molecular sieving.

    • Oksana Smirnova
    • , Seungtaik Hwang
    •  & Alexander Knebel

  • News & Views |

    Using an electrochemical continuous flow cell, nitrogen reduction to ammonia is rigorously demonstrated through a calcium-mediated approach.

    • Michael A. Yusov
    •  & Karthish Manthiram

  • Article |

    Early detection of electrical degradation in dielectric polymers is crucial but remains challenging. A general strategy of blending the polymer with chromogenic molecules is reported, which generates a visually discernible colour change as chemically activated by oxygen radicals generated in situ, indicating the early stage of electrical degradation in polymers.

    • Xiaoyan Huang
    • , Shuai Zhang
    •  & Jinliang He

  • Research Briefing |

    A traditional physical-reservoir device has limited flexibility and cannot perform well across a range of computing tasks, owing to the fixed reservoir properties of the physical system. However, by exploiting the rich magnetic phase spaces of a single chiral magnet, reservoir properties can be reconfigured. This control enables on-demand optimization of computational performance across diverse machine-learning tasks.

  • News & Views |

    An additively manufactured AlSi10Mg alloy shows high fatigue strength, even close to its tensile strength, for micro-sized samples. The fine cells in its inherent three-dimensional network are considered as cages to limit damage accumulation.

    • Christopher Hutchinson

  • News & Views |

    Remotely powered vertical electrochemical transistors are demonstrated to track subtle nerve-cell activity even when the transistor core is fully shielded from the biological environment.

    • C. Eckel
    •  & R. T. Weitz

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Unit-cell-thick films of metal–organic frameworks with ordered porosity would be attractive for membrane applications as these thin systems combine large molecular flux with high selectivity. Here crystalline ZIF films are grown on a crystalline substrate with high H2/N2 gas separation performance.

    • Qi Liu
    • , Yurun Miao
    •  & Kumar Varoon Agrawal

  • Perspective |

    This Perspective provides an overview on the emergent field of colloidal robotics, discussing recent developments on colloidal and micrometre-sized particles that can perform functions such as sensing, communication, computation and motion.

    • Albert Tianxiang Liu
    • , Marek Hempel
    •  & Michael S. Strano

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Organic electronic devices enhance biocompatibility, but have to rely on silicon-based technologies to improve limited speed and integration. This problem is overcome by creating a stand-alone, wireless, conformable, fully organic bioelectronic device with high electronic performance, scalability, stability and conformability in physiologic media.

    • Claudia Cea
    • , Zifang Zhao
    •  & Dion Khodagholy

  • News & Views |

    A bicontinuous conducting polymer hydrogel with high electrical conductivity, stretchability and fracture toughness in physiological environments achieves high-fidelity monitoring and effective stimulation of tissues and organs.

    • Youdi Liu
    • , Faheem Ershad
    •  & Cunjiang Yu

  • Article |

    Membranes formed from porous adsorbents can improve the economics of industrially difficult separations but require support materials that reduce gas permeance. Here an amorphous glassy foam membrane without a support is formed from ZIF-62 that shows high selectivity and permeance for CH4/N2 separations.

    • Zibo Yang
    • , Youssef Belmabkhout
    •  & Chongli Zhong

  • News & Views |

    An artificial neuron architecture based on antiambipolar organic electrochemical transistors shows responses to biological ions and neurotransmitters akin to real neurons with comparable speed. The soft and more biocompatible nature of organic semiconductors could enable applications in brain–machine interfaces and in vivo sensing.

    • Shinya E. Chen
    • , Rajiv Giridharagopal
    •  & David S. Ginger

  • Review Article |

    This Review discusses the field of antiferromagnetic spintronics with a focus on coherent effects.

    • Jiahao Han
    • , Ran Cheng
    •  & Shunsuke Fukami

  • News & Views |

    Soft actuators composed of a tough bioadhesive/elastomer shell encapsulating a stimuli-responsive metallic spring provide in situ mechanical stimulation of skeletal muscles to promote muscle tissue rehabilitation and prevent atrophy.

    • Xuanhe Zhao

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Silicon-based complementary metal-oxide semiconductors or negative differential resistance device circuits can emulate neural features, yet are complicated to fabricate and not biocompatible. Here, the authors report an ion-modulated antiambipolarity in mixed ion–electron conducting polymers demonstrating capability of sensing, spiking, emulating the most critical biological neural features, and stimulating biological nerves in vivo.

    • Padinhare Cholakkal Harikesh
    • , Chi-Yuan Yang
    •  & Simone Fabiano

  • Review Article |

    This Review discusses recent progress in bioinspired nanocomposite design, emphasizing the role of hierarchical structuring at distinct length scales to create multifunctional, lightweight and robust structural materials for diverse technological applications.

    • Dhriti Nepal
    • , Saewon Kang
    •  & Hendrik Heinz

  • News & Views |

    As metal–organic frameworks move towards practical application, data for an expanded range of physical properties are needed. Molecular-level modelling and data science can play an important role.

    • Randall Q. Snurr

  • News & Views |

    Pine cones deform ultraslowly as humidity changes, which is mostly driven by the spring-shaped and square microtubular heterostructure of the vascular bundles. This mechanism inspires the development of soft actuators with imperceptible but efficient motion under environmental stimuli.

    • Cecilia Laschi
    •  & Barbara Mazzolai

  • Article |

    The ultra-slow reshaping of pine cones is dominated by the unique spring/square heterostructure in their vascular bundles, with the velocity slowed by sclereids. Inspired by this motion, a soft actuator showing unperceivable motion was developed.

    • Feilong Zhang
    • , Man Yang
    •  & Shutao Wang

  • News & Views |

    Additive manufacturing imparts defects in as-built titanium alloy microstructures, which form internally twinned nanoprecipitates with heat treatment to yield attractive mechanical properties.

    • Amy J. Clarke

  • Article |

    Heat capacity of nanoporous materials is important for processes such as carbon capture, as this can affect process design energy requirements. Here, a machine learning approach for heat capacity prediction, trained on density functional theory simulations, is presented and experimentally verified.

    • Seyed Mohamad Moosavi
    • , Balázs Álmos Novotny
    •  & Berend Smit

  • Article |

    Laser additive manufacturing can be exploited to generate unique internally twinned nanoprecipitates in commercial titanium alloys, paving the way to fabricate ultrastrong metallic materials with intricate shapes for broad applications.

    • Yuman Zhu
    • , Kun Zhang
    •  & Aijun Huang

  • Comment |

    Structural materials are critical components for our daily lives and industries. This Comment highlights the emerging concepts in structural materials over the past two decades, particularly the multi-principal element alloys, heterostructured materials and additive manufacturing that enables the fabrication of complex architectures.

    • Robert O. Ritchie
    •  & Xiaoyu Rayne Zheng

  • Article |

    Mechanical confinement of fibroblasts into micrometre-sized channels deforms the cell nucleus, leading to temporary nuclear lamina destablization and disassembly, loss of lamina-associated domains in chromatin and a decrease in histone and DNA methylation. These mechanically induced alterations in chromatin boost the conversion of fibroblasts into neurons and pluripotent stem cells and thus can be explored for cell engineering applications.

    • Yang Song
    • , Jennifer Soto
    •  & Song Li

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