Materials chemistry articles within Nature Communications

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  • Article
    | Open Access

    Harvesting water from the atmosphere is an important solution to water scarcity, but doing so in arid climates is highly challenging. Here, the authors develop a metal-organic framework-based water harvesting device that can deliver over 0.25 L of water per kg of adsorbent over a single cycle at relative humidities of 10–40% and at subzero dew points.

    • Hyunho Kim
    • , Sameer R. Rao
    •  & Evelyn N. Wang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Molecular doping is routinely used in organic semiconductor devices nowadays, but the physics at play remains unclarified. Tietze et al. describe it as a two-step process and show it costs little, energetically, to dissociate charge transfer complexes due to energetic disorder of organic semiconductors.

    • Max L. Tietze
    • , Johannes Benduhn
    •  & Karl Leo

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The study of the dissolution of polymer crystals is a challenging task. Here the authors use crystallization-driven self-assembly of coil-crystalline block copolymers as a trapping technique to track the change in length of 1D seed crystallites during annealing.

    • Gerald Guerin
    • , Paul A. Rupar
    •  & Mitchell A. Winnik

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Dye coating techniques for colored materials are often cost intensive or cause degradation of the material during processing. Here the authors demonstrate a fast, scalable and cost efficient plasma dye coating procedure, which allows for covalent immobilization of dye molecules on different polymer surfaces.

    • Lieselot De Smet
    • , Gertjan Vancoillie
    •  & Richard Hoogenboom

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Localized surface plasmon resonance can be exploited for a range of applications, but remains difficult to tailor in metal-organic nanostructures. Here the authors synthesize gold-polypyrrole nanorods and observe a unique extended surface plasmon resonance, which they find to be tunable through doping.

    • Insub Jung
    • , Minkyung Kim
    •  & Sungho Park

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Porous membranes show great promise for CO2 separation and capture, but are currently limited by a trade-off between permeance and selectivity. Here, the authors fabricate a bio-inspired, ultra-thin enzymatic liquid membrane that displays exceptional CO2 permeability and selectivity under ambient conditions.

    • Yaqin Fu
    • , Ying-Bing Jiang
    •  & C. Jeffrey Brinker

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Improved compressive elasticity was lately demonstrated for carbon aerogels but the problem of reversible stretchability remained a challenge. Here the authors use a hierarchical structure design and synergistic effects between carbon nanotubes and graphene to achieve high stretchability in carbon aerogels.

    • Fan Guo
    • , Yanqiu Jiang
    •  & Chao Gao

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Scalable graphene production from graphite via an intercalation-oxidation-reduction process is still hampered by low reproducibility and many lattice defects. Here, the authors show that reducing molecular friction by using highly crystalline graphite and mild oxidizing conditions is the key to high quality graphene.

    • Steffen Seiler
    • , Christian E. Halbig
    •  & Siegfried Eigler

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Electrochemically-gated graphene field-effect transistors show promise for sensing of charged species in real time. Here, the authors leverage the interplay between electrical in-plane transport and electrochemical activity to explore the sensing performance of hydrogenated graphene.

    • Lin Jiang
    • , Wangyang Fu
    •  & Grégory F. Schneider

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The crystal engineering of metal–organic frameworks has led to the construction of complex structures, but has yet to reach the same level of sophistication as organic synthesis. Here, Zhou and colleagues use retrosynthetic chemistry to design and produce complex multi-component frameworks.

    • Shuai Yuan
    • , Jun-Sheng Qin
    •  & Hong-Cai Zhou

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Amine-containing solids are promising adsorbents for CO2 capture, but their low oxidative stability has hindered their application. Here, Choi and colleagues develop a strategy to poison the metal impurities present in poly(ethyleneimine)/silica adsorbents, significantly improving their stability towards oxidation.

    • Kyungmin Min
    • , Woosung Choi
    •  & Minkee Choi

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Polymeric nitrogen has yet to be recovered to ambient conditions, precluding its practical application as high-energy density material. Here, the authors highlight a possible route to the formation of a tetragonal polymeric nitrogen via helium-nitrogen compounds at high pressures.

    • Yinwei Li
    • , Xiaolei Feng
    •  & Yanming Ma

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Intrinsic limitations of nanoporous graphene limit its applications in water treatment. Here the authors produce post-treatment-free, low-cost graphene-based membranes from renewable biomass and demonstrate their high water permeance and antifouling properties using real seawater.

    • Dong Han Seo
    • , Shafique Pineda
    •  & Kostya (Ken) Ostrikov

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Liquid crystals comprising inorganic species are far less common than their organic-based counterparts. Here, the authors report a magneto-optically responsive liquid crystal based on nanorods of the biomineral hydroxyapatite, representing a new type of biologically-based, dynamic inorganic material.

    • Masanari Nakayama
    • , Satoshi Kajiyama
    •  & Takashi Kato

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Metal coordination of multitopic ligands is a powerful approach to building complex, functional architectures. Here, the authors construct three generations of fluorescent supramolecular rosettes by coordination of aggregation-induced emissive ligands, including a 2nd-generation macrocycle that emits pure white light.

    • Guang-Qiang Yin
    • , Heng Wang
    •  & Xiaopeng Li

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Nanoporous membranes show great potential for ionic separations, but the typical trade-off between permeability and selectivity hinders their applicability. Here the authors fabricate nanoporous polymeric membranes with a high density of 0.5 nm pores and demonstrate their exceptional performance for ion sieving.

    • Pengfei Wang
    • , Mao Wang
    •  & Yugang Wang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Mechanical motions of molecular crystals have been limited to in-place movement or slow crawling. Here, the authors describe chiral azobenzene crystals that walk or roll quickly forward in response to heating or cooling, offering new modes of material locomotion.

    • Takuya Taniguchi
    • , Haruki Sugiyama
    •  & Hideko Koshima

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Metal-oxide nanostructures are used in a range of light-driven applications, yet the fundamentals behind their properties are poorly understood. Here the authors probe photoexcited zinc oxide nanoparticles using time-resolved X-ray spectroscopy, identifying photocatalytically-active hole traps as oxygen vacancies in the lattice.

    • Thomas J. Penfold
    • , Jakub Szlachetko
    •  & Christopher J. Milne

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Deposition of single molecule magnets onto surfaces is a key step for integration in devices exploiting their magnetic bistability and quantum properties. Here, Sessoli and colleagues exploit synchrotron Mössbauer spectroscopy to assess the effects of molecule-surface interactions on the magnetic properties of Fe(III) SMMs.

    • Alberto Cini
    • , Matteo Mannini
    •  & Roberta Sessoli

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Semiconducting polymers are usually prepared by transition metal mediated coupling reactions that cause problems for sustainability and biological applications. Here the authors synthesise fused electron deficient polymers that are air stable and have high electron affinities, via metal free aldol polymerisation reactions.

    • Ada Onwubiko
    • , Wan Yue
    •  & Iain McCulloch

  • Article
    | Open Access

    White phosphorus and yellow arsenic represent useful elemental sources for synthetic applications, but their poor stabilities make their storage highly challenging. Here, Scheer and colleagues encapsulate P4 and As4 molecules within porous activated carbons and demonstrate their use in subsequent chemical reactions.

    • Andreas E. Seitz
    • , Felix Hippauf
    •  & Manfred Scheer

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Martensitic transition is commonly seen in steel and shape memory alloys but rarely in organic materials. Chung et al. discover martensitic transitions in organic electronics and utilize it in designing field-effect transistors, leading to shape memory effect that in return modifies charge transport properties.

    • Hyunjoong Chung
    • , Dmytro Dudenko
    •  & Ying Diao

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The application potential of organic nanotubes is currently limited by their lack of designable or dynamic properties. Here, Chen et al. use sequence-defined peptoids to assemble a new family of pH-responsive stiff nanotubes whose dimensions, components and functions can be easily tailored.

    • Haibao Jin
    • , Yan-Huai Ding
    •  & Chun-Long Chen

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Heavy metal removal from polluted water is of global significance, but current adsorbents are limited by their specificity towards certain metals. Here the authors incorporate a non-specific and strong chelating group into a robust metal-organic framework and demonstrate its versatility for heavy metal adsorption.

    • Yaguang Peng
    • , Hongliang Huang
    •  & Chongli Zhong

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Two-dimensional materials show great potential for membrane technologies, but their disordered channels hinder their molecular sieving performance. Here, Wang, Gogotsi and colleagues design a MXene membrane with ordered nanochannels that exhibits an excellent H2/CO2 gas separation performance.

    • Li Ding
    • , Yanying Wei
    •  & Yury Gogotsi

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Rewritable paper is environmentally favourable, but its practical realization is stifled by limited ink colour versatility and poor image retention times. Here, the authors exploit the relatively stable but reversible nature of metal–organic coordination bonds to produce long-lasting and multicoloured inks for rewritable paper.

    • Yun Ma
    • , Pengfei She
    •  & Wei Huang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Porous single crystals are desirable for optoelectronic applications, but their fabrication remains challenging. Here the authors produce centimetre-sized macroporous GaN single crystals with electron mobility comparable to that of bulk crystals via in situ inward epitaxial growth on parent LiGaO2 crystals.

    • Chenlong Chen
    • , Shujing Sun
    •  & Kui Xie

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Asymmetric synthesis predominantly falls within the realm of homogeneous catalysis. Here, the authors synthesized 16 chiral metal–organic frameworks differing in the nature of the transition metal and demonstrate their excellent stability, catalytic activity and recyclability in a number of enantioselective reactions.

    • Xu Chen
    • , Yongwu Peng
    •  & Yong Cui

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Photoactive and semiconducting metal-organic frameworks are desirable for electrical and photoelectrical devices, but remain rare. Here Demets and co-workers design a naphthalene diimide and cobalt based MOF with anisotropic electrical semiconductivity and a high responsivity of 2.5 × 105 A W−1.

    • Evandro Castaldelli
    • , K. D. G. Imalka Jayawardena
    •  & Grégoire Jean-François Demets

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Single-molecule magnets typically only retain information in the presence of an applied magnetic field and at very low temperatures. Here, Demir, Long and co-workers design N2 3– radical-bridged dilanthanide complexes that exhibit giant coercivities and 100-s magnetic blocking temperatures of up to 20 K.

    • Selvan Demir
    • , Miguel I. Gonzalez
    •  & Jeffrey R. Long

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Little is understood about the chemical evolution of precursors to quantum dots. Here, the authors find that under the high temperature conditions typical of CdSe quantum dot synthesis, precursors decompose into highly reactive species in a critical first step before forming monomers and finally nanocrystals.

    • Leah C. Frenette
    •  & Todd D. Krauss

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Modulating the adsorption behaviours of metal-organic frameworks using external stimuli is desirable, but challenging to achieve. Here, Zhou and colleagues design an indium-based MOF in which tetrathiafulvalene ligands undergo reversible redox reactions that alter the framework breathing behaviour.

    • Jian Su
    • , Shuai Yuan
    •  & Hong-Cai Zhou

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The lack of band gap controllability in graphene severely restricts its use in nanoelectronics. Here, the authors predict that post-graphene organic Dirac materials should allow for exceptional electronic tunability between graphene-like semimetallicity and multi-radical and/or closed-shell semiconducting states.

    • Isaac Alcón
    • , Francesc Viñes
    •  & Stefan T. Bromley

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Barocaloric materials offer promise in solid-state cooling devices, but few materials have been show to display giant barocaloric effects near room temperature. Here, the authors demonstrate that solid electrolyte AgI displays giant inverse barocaloric effects near its superionic phase transition at ~420 K.

    • Araceli Aznar
    • , Pol Lloveras
    •  & Lluís Mañosa

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Solid state Pt(II)-pincer complexes exhibiting vapochromic responses show promise for chemical sensing applications, but their slow responses typically limit their utility. Here, Raithby and colleagues design a Pt(II)-pincer complex with a subsecond, highly-selective vapochromic response to water and methanol.

    • M. J. Bryant
    • , J. M. Skelton
    •  & P. R. Raithby

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Hydrogen is attractive as a clean fuel for motor vehicles and porous carbons represent promising hydrogen storage materials. Here, Mokaya and colleagues incorporate oxygen-rich functional groups into porous carbons with high microporosity, showing that such materials exhibit significantly enhanced H2 storage capacity.

    • L. Scott Blankenship
    • , Norah Balahmar
    •  & Robert Mokaya

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Single-walled carbon nanotubes offer exciting optoelectronic applications but generally suffer from low quantum yields. Here, Luo et al. demonstrate that coupling nanotubes to plasmonic antennas can lead to large Purcell enhancement and corresponding increase in quantum yield as well as plasmonic thermometry at the single molecule level.

    • Yue Luo
    • , Ehsaneh D. Ahmadi
    •  & Stefan Strauf

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The exterior layers of mollusk shells are prismatic in nature, endowing them with stiffness and wear resistance. Inspired by these biominerals, here, Jiang and colleagues grow structurally similar prismatic-type CaCO3 thin films with comparable stiffness and hardness.

    • Chuanlian Xiao
    • , Ming Li
    •  & Helmut Cölfen

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Cationic metal-organic frameworks provide promising opportunities to capture anionic pollutants, but stable frameworks with sufficiently large pores are lacking. Here the authors present a thorium-based mesoporous, cationic and hydrolytically-stable MOF that can rapidly trap inorganic and organic anionic pollutants.

    • Yuxiang Li
    • , Zaixing Yang
    •  & Shuao Wang

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