Nanoscale materials articles within Nature Communications

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  • Article |

    For quantum technologies to become widespread and scalable, bright sources of indistinguishable single photons are essential. Through deterministic positioning of quantum dots in pillar cavities, Gazzano et al.present a solid-state single-photon source with brightness as large as 0.65 photons per pulse.

    • O. Gazzano
    • , S. Michaelis de Vasconcellos
    •  & P. Senellart

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Janus materials have distinct chemical functionalities on opposite faces. Zhang et al.report that a two-step covalent functionalisation and poly(methyl methacrylate)-mediated transfer process facilitates the synthesis of nonsymmetrically modified single-layer graphene.

    • Liming Zhang
    • , Jingwen Yu
    •  & Zhongfan Liu

  • Article |

    The motion of magnetic vortices induced in type-II superconductors by a magnetic field degrades their ability to conduct electricity with zero resistance. Córdoba et al.demonstrate a means to immobilize these vortices, reversing their deleterious effect as the applied magnetic field is increased.

    • R. Córdoba
    • , T. I. Baturina
    •  & V. M. Vinokur

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The emission properties of quantum dots make them ideal for probing plasmonic nanostructures, but their small size makes them difficult to manipulate. Ropp et al.use a microfluidic system to accurately place single quantum dots around silver nanowires to probe the local density of optical states.

    • Chad Ropp
    • , Zachary Cummins
    •  & Edo Waks

  • Article |

    Controlling the interaction between distant quantum dots is important if they are to be used in quantum information devices. Delbecq et al. place two quantum dot circuits in a microwave cavity and show that they interact via cavity photons, even though they are separated by 200 times their own size.

    • M.R. Delbecq
    • , L.E. Bruhat
    •  & T. Kontos

  • Article |

    Metallic particles are known to etch the surface layers of graphite by catalytic hydrogenation. Here, the authors report the sub-surface etching of graphite by Ni nanoparticles, revealing the formation of networks of tunnels, which are observed microscopically and could be modified for various applications.

    • Maya Lukas
    • , Velimir Meded
    •  & Ralph Krupke

  • Article |

    The bombardment of structural metals in nuclear reactors by high-energy particles causes them to develop defects, such as stacking-fault tetrahedra defects, that are difficult to cure. Yu et al.find that in nanotwinned silver such defects can be removed at room temperature by the propagation of mobile twin boundaries.

    • K. Y. Yu
    • , D. Bufford
    •  & X. Zhang

  • Article |

    Double-walled carbon nanotubes are a convenient system for studying quantum mechanical interactions in distinct but coupled nanostructures. Liu et al.characterize the coupling between radial-breathing mode oscillations of inner and outer walls of many double-walled nanotubes of different diameter and chirality.

    • Kaihui Liu
    • , Xiaoping Hong
    •  & Feng Wang

  • Article |

    Superionic materials have rigid crystal structures but liquid-like ionic conductivity above a critical temperature, which may be useful for switching and storage applications. Using ultrafast X-ray probes, Miller et al.show that the superionic transition timescale is determined by the ionic hopping time.

    • T. A. Miller
    • , J. S. Wittenberg
    •  & A. M. Lindenberg

  • Article
    | Open Access

    In metals, plasmon properties are fixed once the structure is built, but in graphene they can be altered by electric or magnetic fields. Using electrical time-of-flight measurements, Kumada et al. show wide plasmon velocity tunability in graphene with a varying magnetic field.

    • N. Kumada
    • , S. Tanabe
    •  & T. Fujisawa

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Understanding the influence of disorder on the properties of two-dimensional materials is of increasing importance, given the interest in these compounds for electronic applications. Using a scanning transmission electron microscope, Dumcencoet al. quantify the atomic mixing in two-dimensional films of Mo1–xWxS2.

    • Dumitru O Dumcenco
    • , Haruka Kobayashi
    •  & Kazu Suenaga

  • Article |

    The collective gyrotropic excitation of an array of spin vortices has frequencies that depend on the polarities and chirality of individual vortices. This work demonstrates control of the spectral response of the system by tuning the excitation frequency or the external magnetic field.

    • S. Jain
    • , V. Novosad
    •  & S.D. Bader

  • Article |

    Colloidal quantum dots may be used in a variety of emerging technologies, particularly if charged states can be stabilized. Here, cadmium selenide core-shell nanocrystals are engineered for trion emission at low temperatures, and their finite size introduces an acoustic phonon bottleneck, inhibiting spin relaxation.

    • Mark J. Fernée
    • , Chiara Sinito
    •  & Brahim Lounis

  • Article |

    One of the many exotic characteristics of systems that exhibit the fractional quantum Hall effect is the presence of chiral edge modes that carry energy but no net charge. Gurman et al.demonstrate the use of quantum dots to transform this energy into a measurable current, enabling them to better probe these modes.

    • I. Gurman
    • , R. Sabo
    •  & D. Mahalu

  • Article |

    Nanowires with sharp interfaces between two different semiconducting materials could lead to useful nanoelectronic and nanophotonic structures. Hocevar et al.develop a method to integrate a gallium arsenide section in silicon nanowires with atomically sharp interfaces and no dislocations.

    • Moïra Hocevar
    • , George Immink
    •  & Erik Bakkers

  • Article |

    The 3D self-assembly of nanocrystals could generate materials with unique optical and electronic properties. Barrowet al. report the DNA-mediated assembly of symmetrical 3D gold tetrahedra, pentamers and hexamers, and elucidate their plasmon modes.

    • Steven J. Barrow
    • , Xingzhan Wei
    •  & Paul Mulvaney

  • Article |

    The frictional force required to move a liquid drop on a surface is known to depend upon the drop resting time. N'guessan et al. demonstrate that water drops on graphene surfaces are an exception, which is attributable to the chemical homogeneity and stability of graphene surfaces.

    • Hartmann E. N’guessan
    • , Aisha Leh
    •  & Priyanka Wasnik

  • Article |

    Graphene and single-walled carbon nanotubes have high electrical conductivities and large specific surface areas. Here, these properties are extended into three dimensions by producing a seamless carbon nanotube graphene hybrid material.

    • Yu Zhu
    • , Lei Li
    •  & James M. Tour

  • Article |

    The potential use of graphene in spintronic devices is limited by its weak spin–orbit coupling. Marchenko et al. report an enhancement of the spin splitting in graphene due to hybridization with gold 5dorbitals, showing a very large Rashba spin–orbit splitting of about 100 meV.

    • D. Marchenko
    • , A. Varykhalov
    •  & O. Rader

  • Article
    | Open Access

    In a nonlinear medium, a pump laser beam generates and amplifies a second beam at a different frequency through stimulated Raman scattering. Sirleto et al.show this effect in silicon nanocrystals in a silicon matrix, with gain greater than four orders of magnitude compared with crystalline silicon.

    • Luigi Sirleto
    • , Maria Antonietta Ferrara
    •  & Leonid Khriachtchev

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Optical activity resulting from electronic transitions in chiral inorganic materials is rare. Liu et al. report the synthesis of amino acid-derived amphiphile templated chiral TiO2fibres, which exhibit an optical response to polarized light resulting from valence to conduction band electronic transitions.

    • Shaohua Liu
    • , Lu Han
    •  & Shunai Che

  • Article |

    Crystalline material may be stabilized by complementary DNA interactions but its subsequent capacity for structural transformation is poorly understood. Here, by tuning the DNA handshaking between two sets of nanoparticles, a Martensitic transformation within the binary colloidal crystals is observed.

    • Marie T. Casey
    • , Raynaldo T. Scarlett
    •  & John C. Crocker

  • Article |

    Integration of different compounds with silica is important for developing small-scale optical devices, yet the high temperatures needed to build silica waveguides impose limits. Here, a room-temperature, self-assembly approach is shown, which produces long microwires containing nanodiamonds or organic dyes.

    • Masood Naqshbandi
    • , John Canning
    •  & Maxwell J. Crossley

  • Article |

    Metamaterials using split-ring resonators can display negative refractive index, yet the same effect for closed rings has remained elusive. Kanté et al.overcome this by using closely spaced coupled nanorings that exploit symmetry breaking to show broadband negative refractive index at optical frequencies.

    • Boubacar Kanté
    • , Yong-Shik Park
    •  & Xiang Zhang

  • Article |

    Developing next generation batteries requires better understanding of the dynamics of electrochemical reactions in working electrodes. Using a transmission electron microscope, Wanget al. develop a means to track the real time flow of lithium atoms in electrodes during the discharge of a functioning electrochemical cell.

    • Feng Wang
    • , Hui-Chia Yu
    •  & Jason Graetz

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Binary mixtures of molecules on the surface of nanoparticles can arrange randomly or into different domains to form Janus, patchy or striped particles. Liuet al.show that NMR can be used to determine the ligand-shell morphology of particles coated with aliphatic and aromatic ligands.

    • Xiang Liu
    • , Miao Yu
    •  & Francesco Stellacci

  • Article |

    The Cooper pairs that losslessly conduct current in a superconductor can be split into two spatially separated but quantum mechanically entangled electrons. In this paper, non-local cross-correlation measurements of pairs split within a superconducting wire indicate the efficiency of this process can approach 100%.

    • Anindya Das
    • , Yuval Ronen
    •  & Hadas Shtrikman

  • Article |

    Bullet-proof materials made of nanostructured composites outperform conventional materials, yet little is known of their nanoscale response to high-speed impact. Using laser-propelled microscopic projectiles, Lee et al.directly visualize this process in layered nanocomposites.

    • Jae-Hwang Lee
    • , David Veysset
    •  & Edwin L. Thomas

  • Article |

    Intentional defect creation in graphene is key to engineering its electrical, chemical, magnetic and mechanical properties. Robertsonet al. create defects by electron beam irradiation with sub-knock-on damage threshold, and show control over the defect position at the nanoscale and over the defect complexity.

    • Alex W. Robertson
    • , Christopher S. Allen
    •  & Jamie H. Warner

  • Article |

    Photosynthesis occurs at the thylakoid membrane, which acts as a scaffold, precisely arranging functional proteins and electron carriers. Sunet al.synthesize hollow photosynthetic nanospheres that function as light-harvesting antennae and structured scaffolds that improve photoredox catalysis.

    • Jianhua Sun
    • , Jinshui Zhang
    •  & Xinchen Wang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    High-resolution characterisation techniques enable us to better understand the properties of nanoscale materials and devices. By combining electron microscopy and infrared nanoscopy, Stiegleret al.demonstrate a general approach to simultaneously probe the structural, chemical and electronic properties of a nanostructure.

    • J.M. Stiegler
    • , R. Tena-Zaera
    •  & R. Hillenbrand

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Microdisk lasers are useful for compact wavelength-scale photonic devices and circuits, but their operation by electrical injection can hamper their optical properties. Kimet al. show that a graphene-contact electrode provides efficient electrical injection while minimising optical losses.

    • Yoon-Ho Kim
    • , Soon-Hong Kwon
    •  & Hong-Gyu Park

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Plasmonic nanoparticles are useful as optical sensors, but their spectral resolution is hindered by the linewidth of the plasmon resonance. Schmidtet al. find that coupling this resonance to a microcavity creates hybrid modes with enhanced sensing figure-of-merit and improved frequency resolution.

    • Markus A. Schmidt
    • , Dang Yuan Lei
    •  & Stefan A. Maier

  • Article |

    Nanoporous zeotypes have applications as catalysts and in gas separation, but they are usually produced as moderately dense silicates and aluminosilicates with relatively low capacities for gas uptake. Here, zeotype structures are reported with very low densities and high total specific pore volumes.

    • Benjamin T.R. Littlefield
    •  & Mark T. Weller

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