Physical sciences articles within Nature Communications

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  • Article
    | Open Access

    Precision control of stereochemistry in radical reactions remains a formidable challenge. Here the authors demonstrate an electricity driven asymmetric Lewis acid catalysis to facilitate asymmetric dienylation and allylation reactions, resulting in the formation of all-carbon quaternary stereocenters.

    • Qinglin Zhang
    • , Jiayin Zhang
    •  & Chang Guo

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Reconstructing the structure of a complex networked system and predicting its time evolution to understand its functions are usually two subjects that are treated separately. The authors propose a theoretical framework based on information theory, that uncovers the relation between reconstructability and predictability in networked systems.

    • Charles Murphy
    • , Vincent Thibeault
    •  & Patrick Desrosiers

  • Article
    | Open Access

    There are now several van der Waals magnets that have been shown to host skyrmions, however, these are typically hampered by a low Curie temperature, restricting the temperature at which the skyrmions can exist. Here, Zhang, Jiang, Jiang and coauthors find a skyrmion lattice in the van der Waals magnet Fe3 − xGaTe2 above room temperature and demonstrate the critical role of symmetry breaking in crystal lattice in the origin of these skyrmions.

    • Chenhui Zhang
    • , Ze Jiang
    •  & Hyunsoo Yang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    A consistency issue with the production of porous polymer-based radiative coatings can be a significant drop in the cooling performance when dried under humid conditions. This issue is efficiently resolved by adding polymer reinforcement.

    • Dongpyo Hong
    • , Yong Joon Lee
    •  & Sang Yoon Park

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Photoluminescence from plasmonic nanostructures exhibits diverse wavelength dependent nonlinear behaviors with debated origins. Here, authors use plasmonic gap mode resonators with precise nanoscale confinement to show this nonlinear emission can become dominated by non-Fermi carrier contributions.

    • Robert Lemasters
    • , Manoj Manjare
    •  & Hayk Harutyunyan

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Assessing failure pressure is critical in determining pipeline integrity. In this study, based on the unified yield criterion, authors propose a limit state equation for steel pipes under various loads which can be converted into a series of failure pressure evaluation models for pipeline with different yield criteria.

    • Ming-ming Sun
    • , Hong-yuan Fang
    •  & Ke-Jie Zhai

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Polaritons – hybrid light-matter excitations – in van der Waals materials hold promise for photonics applications below the diffraction limit. Here, the authors demonstrate in-plane steering and cloaking of phonon polaritons in assembled micro-structures based on α-MoO3 films with misaligned crystallographic orientations.

    • Hanchao Teng
    • , Na Chen
    •  & Qing Dai

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Intelligent agents can perform two types of behavior, habitual and goal-directed. The authors propose a deep learning framework using a variational Bayes approach, which computationally explains many aspects of the interaction between the two types of behaviors in sensorimotor tasks.

    • Dongqi Han
    • , Kenji Doya
    •  & Jun Tani

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Metasurface-based architectures enhance light-matter interactions between a terahertz photonic mode and glucose vibrational resonance. This platform allows new physical and chemical properties of hybrid light-matter states to be exploited.

    • Ahmed Jaber
    • , Michael Reitz
    •  & Jean-Michel Ménard

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Switchable structural and physical bistability in ferroelectric materials can be achieved as result of molecular orbital breaking. Here, the authors describe the photo-mediated bistability in organosilicon Schiff base ferroelectric crystals for the modulation of dielectric, second-harmonic generation, and ferroelectric polarization and showing good in vitro biocompatibility.

    • Zhu-Xiao Gu
    • , Nan Zhang
    •  & Han-Yue Zhang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The noncovalent interaction of ammonium ion with multidentate oxygen-based host serving as a key reacting center in catalytic reactions is rare. In this work, the authors report a noncovalent interaction of ammonium ion enabled reactivity enhancement process, achieving the C–H functionalization of polyethylene glycols with acrylates.

    • Zongnan Zhang
    • , Xueli Lv
    •  & Rong Zeng

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The authors study tunneling junctions in rhombohedral MoS2 bilayers and correlate their performance with the local domain layout. They show that the switching behavior in sliding ferroelectrics is strongly dependent on the pre-existing domain structure.

    • Yunze Gao
    • , Astrid Weston
    •  & Roman Gorbachev

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The authors study the [Nb/V/Ta] superconducting artificial superlattice, known to support a superconducting diode effect, by pulsed THz spectroscopy and simultaneous transport. They found a non-monotonic switching between the superconducting and normal state, which can be explained if the THz-driven vortex depinning determines the critical current.

    • Fumiya Sekiguchi
    • , Hideki Narita
    •  & Yoshihiko Kanemitsu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    In this work, authors synthesize transparent radiative cooling cover windows for flexible and foldable electronic devices. Besides demonstrated enhanced mechanical and moisture-impermeable properties, these mitigate temperature rise of devices under solar irradiation and improve overall thermal management.

    • Kang Won Lee
    • , Jonghun Yi
    •  & Dong Rip Kim

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Organic room temperature phosphorescent materials have useful properties, but development can be limited by processing and stability challenges. Here, the authors report a derivatisation strategy for the preparation of room temperature phosphorescent materials responsive to an electrostatic field.

    • Wensheng Xu
    • , Bowei Wang
    •  & Ligong Chen

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Designing photocatalysts to enhance the efficiency of non-oxidative coupling of methane is a challenging task. Here, the authors report that the anatase TiO2 with exposed {101} facets and Pd co-catalyst enables efficient and selective methane coupling to ethane via a heterogeneous-homogeneous hybrid reaction pathway.

    • Huizhen Zhang
    • , Pengfei Sun
    •  & Ye Wang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Toggle switching refers to the switching of magnetization induced by a train of ultrashort laser pulses. The high speed make such switching in extremely promising for devices, however, the underlying toggle switching mechanism in metals is due to heating, and thus has a downside of dissipation. Here, Zalewski et al demonstrate ultrafast ‘cold’ toggle switching, with a mechanism that does not rely on heating in dielectric Cobalt doped Yittrium Iron Garnet.

    • T. Zalewski
    • , A. Maziewski
    •  & A. Stupakiewicz

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Electron transfer in solids is a fundamental process in many functional nanomaterials. Here, the authors directly observe this process via x-ray crystallography for incorporating of electron-donor guest molecules in macrocyclic nanotube crystals.

    • Daiji Ogata
    • , Shota Koide
    •  & Junpei Yuasa

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The combination of dynamic, energy driven folding and growth with structural stiffness and length control is difficult to achieve in synthetic polymer self-assembly. Here the authors show that highly charged, monodisperse DNA oligomers assemble via seeded growth into length-controlled supramolecular fibers during heating.

    • Michael D. Dore
    • , Muhammad Ghufran Rafique
    •  & Hanadi F. Sleiman

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The strong connection between the dynamics of a physical system and its Hamiltonian’s spectrum has scarcely been applied in the non-Hermitian case. Here, the authors use a photonic quantum walk to confirm and expand previous theoretical analyses connecting self-acceleration dynamics with non-trivial point-gap topology.

    • Peng Xue
    • , Quan Lin
    •  & Wei Yi

  • Article
    | Open Access

    7C-10C and 12C-carbolong complexes with planar ligand skeletons containing 7-10 and 12 carbon atoms have been previously reported but 11C-carbolong complexes with a planar carbon-chain ligand are elusive. Here, the authors prepare metallabenzyne-fused metallapentalenes and metallabenzene-fused metallapentalynes, both representing 11C-carbolong complexes with a planar carbon-chain ligand

    • Binbin Xu
    • , Wei Mao
    •  & Haiping Xia

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Natural stilbenes show significant potential in the prevention and treatment of diseases due to their diverse pharmacological activities. Here the authors present a mild and effective Ti-catalyzed intermolecular radical-relay cycloaddition reaction with good regio- and trans-selectivity offering rapid access to structurally diverse stilbene bioisosteres.

    • Yonghong Liu
    • , Zhixian Wu
    •  & Lei Shi

  • Article
    | Open Access

    It may be useful to obtain nylon with room temperature phosphorescence, but identifying a suitable luminophore is challenging. Here, the authors report the doping of nylon with cyano-substituted benzimidazole derivatives for room temperature phosphorescent nylons.

    • Dian-Xue Ma
    • , Zhong-Qiu Li
    •  & Yu-Wu Zhong

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Controlled manipulation of cultured cells by delivery of exogenous macromolecules is a cornerstone of experimental biology. Here, the authors describe a platform to deliver defined numbers of macromolecules into cultured cell lines at single molecule resolution.

    • Chalmers C. Chau
    • , Christopher M. Maffeo
    •  & Paolo Actis

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Here, the authors discover the ground and excited state interlayer excitons in bi- and tri-layer 2H-MoSe2 crystals which exhibit electric-field-driven hybridisation with the intralayer A excitons, showing distinct spin, layer and valley characteristics.

    • Shun Feng
    • , Aidan J. Campbell
    •  & Brian D. Gerardot

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Topological flat bands offer a solid-state platform for studying the interplay between topology and electron correlations. Here, the authors demonstrate that a prototypical 3D Dirac material can host topological flat bands under magnetic fields due to polar-distortion-assisted Rashba splitting.

    • Dong Xing
    • , Bingbing Tong
    •  & Cheng-Long Zhang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    It is essential to manipulate the dynamic behaviour of charge carriers and excitons in organic light-emitting diodes. Here, authors report the trapping of injected electrons by a thermally activated delayed fluorescence assistant molecule in a bipolar host matrix and achieve long device stability.

    • Xun Tang
    • , Tuul Tsagaantsooj
    •  & Chihaya Adachi

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The authors study the intrinsic superconducting diode effect (SDE) in a single Josephson junction consisting of a InGaAs/InAs/InGaAs quantum well as the weak link, and an Al film as the superconductor. They find a correspondence between SDE and an offset in the relationship between critical current and the difference in phase of the superconducting order parameter across the junction.

    • S. Reinhardt
    • , T. Ascherl
    •  & N. Paradiso

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Recently, superconductivity near 80 K was observed in La3Ni2O7 under high pressure, but the mechanism is debated. Here the authors report angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy measurements under ambient pressure, revealing flat bands with strong electronic correlations that could be linked to superconductivity.

    • Jiangang Yang
    • , Hualei Sun
    •  & X. J. Zhou

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Soluble methane monooxygenase (sMMO) is a potentially value biocatalyst, but production of active recombinant sMMO is very challenging. Here the authors report the rational design and construction of a catalytically active miniature sMMO which enables high-yield production of methanol in E. coli.

    • Yeonhwa Yu
    • , Yongfan Shi
    •  & Jeewon Lee

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The enantioselective synthesis of S-stereogenic sulfinamides has garnered considerable attention due to their unique structural and physicochemical properties but catalytic asymmetric synthesis of sulfinamides still remains challenging. Here, the authors present the synthesis of S-stereogenic sulfinamides through the peptide-mimic phosphonium salt-catalyzed asymmetric skeletal reorganization of simple prochiral and racemic sulfoximines.

    • Zanjiao Liu
    • , Siqiang Fang
    •  & Tianli Wang

  • Perspective
    | Open Access

    Temporal blockade of the mononuclear phagocyte system is an approach to enhance the therapeutic efficiency of nanocarrier drug-delivery systems but the broad applicability is hindered by the complexity of optimisation and management of potential side effects. Here, the authors review the development of this technique and show its efficiency using meta-analysis of the published data and discuss essential features for its successful translation to clinic.

    • Ivan V. Zelepukin
    • , Konstantin G. Shevchenko
    •  & Sergey M. Deyev

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Dearomative hydroboration of predominantly existing indole derivatives provides a straightforward strategy to synthesize boryl indolines, but developing eco-friendly methods for remains challenging. Here, the authors develop a method for heterogeneous photocatalytic trans-hydroboration of indole derivatives with NHC-borane.

    • Qiao Zhang
    • , Wengang Xu
    •  & Mingbo Wu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    2D AMX2 compounds (where A is a monovalent metal ion, M is a trivalent metal, and X is a chalcogen) are a family of materials with coupled ionic-electronic properties. Here, the authors report a chemical vapor deposition strategy to fabricate 20 types of 2D AMX2 flakes, exhibiting superionic conductivity or room temperature ferroelectricity.

    • Xiang Xu
    • , Yunxin Chen
    •  & Tianyou Zhai

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