Nanoscience and technology articles within Nature Communications

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  • Article
    | Open Access

    In sintering, powders of small grains are packed together to form shapes or grain structures that cannot be achieved by melt casting. Here, the authors demonstrate the fast sintering of a nanostructured alloy at low temperatures, preserving its nanoscale grain structure.

    • Mansoo Park
    •  & Christopher A. Schuh

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Owing to its electronic and optical properties, graphene holds potential for flat display systems. Here, Li et al. write wide-angle, full-colour, three-dimensional holographic images using subwavelength, multilevel index modulation of athermally reduced graphene oxide by a single femtosecond pulse.

    • Xiangping Li
    • , Haoran Ren
    •  & Min Gu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Hard X-ray spectro-imaging using synchrotron radiation can be used to monitor electrochemical reactions. Here, the authors present X-ray absorption data and resolve phase evolution for the conversion of iron fluoride, a high-capacity Li-ion battery conversion cathode, with nanoscale resolution.

    • Linsen Li
    • , Yu-chen Karen Chen-Wiegart
    •  & Song Jin

  • Article |

    Real-time observation of graphene growth is likely to result in a greater understanding of growth mechanisms and ultimately enable improved growth control. Here, the authors propose a new technique for observing CVD grown graphene, which they term ‘radiation-mode optical microscopy’.

    • Tomo-o Terasawa
    •  & Koichiro Saiki

  • Article |

    Although graphene promises long spin coherence lengths in spintronic devices, state-of-the-art performance has been limited to exfoliated flakes, limiting industrial scalability. Here, Kumalakar et al. demonstrate long-distance spin transport in large-scale chemical vapour-deposited graphene.

    • M. Venkata Kamalakar
    • , Christiaan Groenveld
    •  & Saroj P. Dash

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Conventional sodium ion batteries have low energy and power densities. Here, the authors report the use of MXene Ti2C as a negative electrode for sodium ion energy storage, and show that the pseudocapacitance of the electrode allows the hybrid capacitors to achieve high electrochemical performance.

    • Xianfen Wang
    • , Satoshi Kajiyama
    •  & Atsuo Yamada

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The creation of functional 2D bottom-up nanosheets woven from molecular components remains a large challenge. Here, a bottom-up nanosheet featuring a photofunctional bis(dipyrrinato)zinc(II) complex motif is synthesized using interfacial syntheses, enabling a photoelectric conversion system.

    • Ryota Sakamoto
    • , Ken Hoshiko
    •  & Hiroshi Nishihara

  • Article |

    Magnetoelectric composites of magnetic and ferroelectric components are promising for their use in applications such as information storage. Here, the authors find that magnetic quasiparticles embedded in a ferroelectric film matrix show promising properties compared to the usual thin-film architectures.

    • Yanxi Li
    • , Zhongchang Wang
    •  & Dwight Viehland

  • Article |

    The development of improved DNA sequencing technologies relies on the ability to distinguish each of the four DNA nucleobases separately. Here, the authors fabricate a graphene field-effect transistor able to experimentally observe individual DNA nucleobases.

    • Nikolai Dontschuk
    • , Alastair Stacey
    •  & Jiri Cervenka

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Microwave technology is crucial for communications and high-speed electronics. Wang et al. now use nitrogen-vacancy defects in diamond to measure the strength and orientation of the magnetic component of a microwave electromagnetic field on the nanoscale.

    • Pengfei Wang
    • , Zhenheng Yuan
    •  & Jiangfeng Du

  • Article |

    Magnetic domain walls can exhibit a variety of different spin textures. Chen et al. show that it is possible to switch these textures between left handed, right handed, cycloidal, helical and mixed domain wall structures by controlling uniaxial strain in iron/nickel bilayer thin films on tungsten.

    • Gong Chen
    • , Alpha T. N’Diaye
    •  & Andreas K. Schmid

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Many insects supply secretion via small tubes or pores to the end of their legs to be able to attach to a surface. Here, inspired by nature, Xue et al.fabricate adhesive pads with porous nanorod structure for oil delivery, which give rise to a 100-fold increase in adhesivity under humid conditions.

    • Longjian Xue
    • , Alexander Kovalev
    •  & Stanislav N. Gorb

  • Article
    | Open Access

    An emitter near a surface induces an image dipole that alters the emission pattern and creates errors in single-particle imaging applications. Here, Ropp et al.show that an image dipole can distort the polarization and measured position of an emitter, and that these distortions can be corrected.

    • Chad Ropp
    • , Zachary Cummins
    •  & Edo Waks

  • Article |

    Three-dimensional helical chiral metamaterials are required for nanophotonics but lack of full rotational symmetry has limited their use. Here, Esposito et al. combine chirality and isotropy, fabricating intertwined helical nanowires with 37% broadband circular dichroism with a high signal to noise ratio.

    • Marco Esposito
    • , Vittorianna Tasco
    •  & Adriana Passaseo

  • Article |

    Current methods for depositing large-area, high-mobility graphene films are complicated by multiple processing steps and high temperatures. Here, the authors demonstrate a plasma chemistry that quickly produces high-mobility graphene on copper in a single step, at reduced temperatures (<420 °C).

    • D.A. Boyd
    • , W.-H. Lin
    •  & N.-C. Yeh

  • Article |

    Tunable metamaterials bring the promise of on-demand tailored optical properties, offering numerous device functionalities. Towards this aim, this study presents a tunable metamaterial based on dynamic self-assembly of nanoparticles coated with organic ligands, which also shows epsilon-near-zero behaviour.

    • Wiktor Lewandowski
    • , Martin Fruhnert
    •  & Ewa Górecka

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Closely-spaced anisotropically-engineered single-domain nanomagnets may be exploited to encode and transmit binary information. Here, Gu et al. use time-resolved X-ray microscopy to image signal propagation at the intrinsic nanomagnetic switching limit in permalloy nanomagnet chains.

    • Zheng Gu
    • , Mark E. Nowakowski
    •  & Jeffrey Bokor

  • Article |

    An often overlooked component of scanning probe microscopy involves information transfer from the tip–surface junction to a macroscopic measurement system. Here, the authors present an information–theory-based approach that relies on capturing the response at a wide-frequency band, allowing a complete and unbiased look at probing interaction.

    • Alexei Belianinov
    • , Sergei V. Kalinin
    •  & Stephen Jesse

  • Article |

    A topologically protected state can exist at the interface between a topological insulator and an ordinary insulator. Here, the authors use photoemission spectroscopy to show that the topological Dirac-cone state migrates from the surface of the topological insulator TlBiSe2to an attached bismuth film.

    • T. Shoman
    • , A. Takayama
    •  & Yoichi Ando

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The growth of high-quality graphene directly on to dielectric substrates is of key importance for future electronic and optoelectronic applications. Here, the authors use silane-catalysed chemical vapour deposition to fabricate large graphene sheets, up to 20 μm in size, on hexagonal boron nitride.

    • Shujie Tang
    • , Haomin Wang
    •  & Mianheng Jiang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Formation of stable and uniform self-assembled monolayers on surfaces is a prerequisite for bottom-up fabrication of many organic molecular devices. Here, the authors present a fabrication approach based on desilylation chemistry for modification and functionalization on various metal and carbon surfaces.

    • Yongchun Fu
    • , Songjie Chen
    •  & Shi-Xia Liu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Mass spectrometry (MS) involves ionization of analytes with spectra dependent upon the mass-to-charge ratio. Here, the authors demonstrate that MS based on nanoelectromechanical systems gives results that are independent of the charge state and allow the mass spectrum of neutral species to be obtained.

    • Eric Sage
    • , Ariel Brenac
    •  & Sébastien Hentz

  • Article
    | Open Access

    There is currently interest in two-dimensional graphene-like materials incorporating heteroatoms. Here, the authors synthesize a solution-processable, holey two-dimensional network with C2N stoichiometry containing evenly distributed holes and nitrogen atoms, and use it to fabricate a field effect transistor.

    • Javeed Mahmood
    • , Eun Kwang Lee
    •  & Jong-Beom Baek

  • Article |

    Ultrathin film photovoltaic cells are a promising energy device, but suffer from low power conversion efficiency. Here, the authors construct a double-junction tandem cell using a hydrogenated amorphous silicon and a polymer as the front and back cell, respectively, which achieves 10.5% efficiency.

    • Jeehwan Kim
    • , Ziruo Hong
    •  & Yang Yang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Endohedral fullerenes are known to stabilize reactive radicals; however, the external magnetic manipulation of these species’ remains challenging. Here, the authors link a nitroxide radical to a paramagnetic fullerene system and are able to alter the spin behaviour of the fullerene via spin–spin interactions.

    • Bo Wu
    • , Taishan Wang
    •  & Chunru Wang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The development of wearable healthcare and intelligence systems require low-cost, large-area flexible electronic sensors. Here, Zang et al. report pressure sensors based on organic thin-film transistors in combination with a suspended-gate device geometry, which show high sensitivity up to 192 kPa−1.

    • Yaping Zang
    • , Fengjiao Zhang
    •  & Daoben Zhu

  • Article |

    The electronic coupling between the active components and electrodes in molecular electronics determines the device performance. Here, Yuan et al. show that a non-covalent coupling is sufficiently strong to induce molecular-based rectification, while weak enough to minimize leakage current.

    • Li Yuan
    • , Nisachol Nerngchamnong
    •  & Christian A. Nijhuis

  • Article |

    The unusual electronic and optical properties of graphene are finding increasing applications for terahertz and mid-infrared plasmonics. Here, the authors show how monolayers of graphene separated by thin dielectric layers can act as tunable structures for plasmonic device platforms.

    • J.S. Gomez-Diaz
    • , C Moldovan
    •  & J Perruisseau-Carrier

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The photocurrent and luminescence of carbon nanotubes is governed by excitonic processes with diverse uses in nano-photonics. Here, Jiang et al.generate optical pulses from individual air-suspended carbon nanotubes under an application of square-wave gate voltages with control over pulse timing and duration.

    • M Jiang
    • , Y Kumamoto
    •  & Y. K. Kato

  • Article |

    There is a growing interest in the development of narrowband photodiodes for full-color imaging and visible-blind near-infrared detection. Armin et al.show a sub-100 nm response by tuning the spectral bandwidth through regulating the charge collection efficiency in a thick organic bulk heterojunction.

    • Ardalan Armin
    • , Ross D. Jansen-van Vuuren
    •  & Paul Meredith

  • Article |

    Silicon is a promising anode material for lithium ion batteries, but suffers from structural degradation during operations. Here, the authors combine silicon with a room temperature ionic liquid to stabilize the electrode-electrolyte interface and achieve long-term cyclability.

    • Daniela Molina Piper
    • , Tyler Evans
    •  & Se-Hee Lee

  • Article |

    Optical frequency combs in the mid-infrared are required for molecular gas detection applications but their realization in compact microresonator-based platforms is challenging. Here, Griffith et al. demonstrate on-chip broadband comb generation on a silicon microresonator spanning from 2.1 to 3.5 μm.

    • Austin G. Griffith
    • , Ryan K.W. Lau
    •  & Michal Lipson

  • Article |

    The integration of silicon optoelectronic devices in a fibre platform has great potential, but drawing such fibres is difficult. Using a simple, low cost and scalable method, Hou et al. fabricate a metre-long crystalline silicon-core, silica-clad fibre from a preform not containing elemental silicon.

    • Chong Hou
    • , Xiaoting Jia
    •  & Yoel Fink

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Phase-coherent frequency combs in the mid-infrared have important potential applications but their fabrication remains challenging. Here, Kuyken et al. demonstrate an octave-spanning frequency comb in the mid-infrared using a highly nonlinear dispersion-engineered silicon waveguide on a silicon-on-insulator chip.

    • Bart Kuyken
    • , Takuro Ideguchi
    •  & Nathalie Picqué

  • Article |

    Mouldable hydrogels find a variety of applications in the biomedical industry. Here, Appel et al. show a method to fabricate hydrogels through a self-assembly process based on the interaction between biopolymers and functional nanoparticles for multistage drug delivery in vivo.

    • Eric A. Appel
    • , Mark W. Tibbitt
    •  & Robert Langer

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