Featured
-
-
Article
| Open AccessTemplated synthesis of cubic crystalline single networks having large open-space lattices by polymer cubosomes
Cubic crystalline single networks of large open-space lattices are ubiquitous in nature. Here the authors show that the topology of the circumferential bilayer of polymer cubosomes differentiates between two non-intersecting pore networks embedded in the cubic mesophase by sealing one channel network at the interface.
- Yunju La
- , Jeongeun Song
- & Kyoung Taek Kim
-
Article
| Open AccessBlocking-cyclization technique for precise synthesis of cyclic polymers with regulated topology
Cyclic polymers can be usually accessed by ring-expansion and ring-closure approaches. Here, the authors report an alternative blocking-cyclization technique which enables the tunable synthesis of multicyclic polymers via commercial Ru-based Grubbs catalysts and conventional ring-opening metathesis polymerisation.
- Jie Chen
- , Hongfei Li
- & Meiran Xie
-
Article
| Open AccessNeuroinspired unsupervised learning and pruning with subquantum CBRAM arrays
To realize the potential of resistive RAM crossbar arrays as platforms for neuromorphic computing, reduced network-level energy consumption must be achieved. Here, the authors use a hardware/software co-design approach to realize reduced energy consumption during network training for the network.
- Yuhan Shi
- , Leon Nguyen
- & Duygu Kuzum
-
Article
| Open AccessFluorine-free water-in-ionomer electrolytes for sustainable lithium-ion batteries
The flammability and toxicity of the currently used electrolytes are the concerns that must be addressed. Here the authors show a non-fluorinated and non-toxic ionomeric aqueous gel electrolyte called water-in-ionomer that allows an enlargement of electrochemical stability window and design of environmentally friendly battery cell chemistries.
- Xin He
- , Bo Yan
- & Elie Paillard
-
Article
| Open AccessMachine learning plastic deformation of crystals
Predicting plastic deformation in crystals remains challenging owing to the nonlinear nature of stochastic avalanches involved, which resemble the critical phenomena. Salmenjoki et al. use machine learning to predict plastic deformation and show that it works better for those under large strains.
- Henri Salmenjoki
- , Mikko J. Alava
- & Lasse Laurson
-
Article
| Open AccessMulti-inch single-crystalline perovskite membrane for high-detectivity flexible photosensors
Hybrid halide perovskite single crystals show excellent optoelectronic properties but their small size and large thickness limit their application. Herein Liu et al. grow large area ultrathin flexible crystalline membrane of layered perovskite and demonstrate high detectivity in the flexible photosensors.
- Yucheng Liu
- , Yunxia Zhang
- & Shengzhong(Frank) Liu
-
Article
| Open AccessAll-optical structuring of laser-driven proton beam profiles
Shaping particle beams generated from laser-plasma accelerators is challenging. Here the authors demonstrate an all-optical method to structure the accelerated proton beam by modulating and imprinting the spatial laser profile onto the proton beam.
- Lieselotte Obst-Huebl
- , Tim Ziegler
- & Karl Zeil
-
Article
| Open AccessLithium hexamethyldisilazide initiated superfast ring opening polymerization of alpha-amino acid N-carboxyanhydrides
Ring-opening polymerizations of α-amino acid N-carboxyanhydrides to form polypeptides are usually sensitive to moisture, slow and can undergo side reactions. Here the authors use lithium hexamethyldisilazide to initiate α-amino acid N-carboxyanhydride polymerizations that is very fast and can be conducted in an open vessel.
- Yueming Wu
- , Danfeng Zhang
- & Runhui Liu
-
Article
| Open AccessBroadband sound barriers with bianisotropic metasurfaces
Methods to silence broadband noise and shield large volumes are lacking. Here, the authors show theoretically and experimentally that acoustic bianisotropic materials, with non-zero strain to momentum coupling, lead to effective sound barriers with excellent efficiency in terms of attenuation, bandwidth, and shielded volume.
- Bogdan-Ioan Popa
- , Yuxin Zhai
- & Hyung-Suk Kwon
-
Article
| Open AccessMonitoring drug nanocarriers in human blood by near-infrared fluorescence correlation spectroscopy
While nanocarrier-based drug delivery is a promising therapeutic approach, in situ characterization of drug nanocarriers in blood remains difficult. Here, the authors demonstrate how the fluorescence correlation spectroscopy can be used to directly characterize drug nanocarriers in flowing blood.
- Inka Negwer
- , Andreas Best
- & Kaloian Koynov
-
Article
| Open AccessAssessing the nature of the charge-transfer electronic states in organic solar cells
Previous descriptions of the charge-transfer absorptions in organic solar cells only involve the charge transfer state and the ground state. Here Chen et al. underline that a third state, i.e., the local absorbing state on the donor and/or acceptor, needs to be considered.
- Xian-Kai Chen
- , Veaceslav Coropceanu
- & Jean-Luc Brédas
-
Article
| Open AccessTissue engineering of human hair follicles using a biomimetic developmental approach
Human skin constructs hold potential for regenerative medicine, but the incorporation of hair follicles into such constructs is a challenge. Here, the authors use 3D printed molds to pattern hair follicle cell types in a physiological organization, and achieve human hair growth on the back of a mouse.
- Hasan Erbil Abaci
- , Abigail Coffman
- & Angela M. Christiano
-
Article
| Open AccessClosed-loop functional optogenetic stimulation
Optogenetics is a promising alternative approach for restoration of neuromuscular function. Here the authors establish a closed-loop functional optogenetic stimulation for the control of limb joint angle in murine models, which demonstrates improved control and less fatigue than electrical stimulation systems.
- Shriya S. Srinivasan
- , Benjamin E. Maimon
- & Hugh M. Herr
-
Comment
| Open AccessPrebiotic plausibility and networks of paradox-resolving independent models
- Steven A. Benner
-
-
Comment
| Open AccessNon-canonical nucleosides and chemistry of the emergence of life
- Sidney Becker
- , Christina Schneider
- & Thomas Carell
-
Comment
| Open AccessLife as a guide to prebiotic nucleotide synthesis
- Stuart A. Harrison
- & Nick Lane
-
-
Comment
| Open AccessSearching for lost nucleotides of the pre-RNA World with a self-refining model of early Earth
- Nicholas V. Hud
-
Comment
| Open AccessPrebiotic nucleic acids need space to grow
- Daniel Whitaker
- & Matthew W. Powner
-
Comment
| Open AccessExperimentally investigating the origin of DNA/RNA on early Earth
- Ramanarayanan Krishnamurthy
-
Article
| Open AccessReversible and selective ion intercalation through the top surface of few-layer MoS2
Electrochemical ion intercalation in 2D layered materials is known to occur through the material’s edges, accompanied by frequent structural deformations. Here the authors show that in MoS2 flakes where the edges have been sealed, a reversible and ion-selective intercalation occurs through the top surface via the intrinsic defects.
- Jinsong Zhang
- , Ankun Yang
- & Yi Cui
-
Article
| Open AccessContactless steam generation and superheating under one sun illumination
Solar steam generation is limited by fouling of solar converters, and the steam temperature is usually pinned to 100 °C. Here, both limitations are overcome in a system utilizing a solar absorber and light down-converter to achieve radiative heating, which does not require physical contact between absorber and water.
- Thomas A. Cooper
- , Seyed H. Zandavi
- & Gang Chen
-
Article
| Open AccessMembrane water for probing neuronal membrane potentials and ionic fluxes at the single cell level
Non-invasive spatiotemporal probing of electric potentials in living neurons without chemical or genetic modification provides a major advancement to neuroscience. Here, the authors demonstrate the use of membrane water as a probe for neuronal membrane potentials and ionic flux.
- M. E. P. Didier
- , O. B. Tarun
- & S. Roke
-
Article
| Open AccessBioconjugation strategy for cell surface labelling with gold nanostructures designed for highly localized pH measurement
Understanding the pH changes at cell surfaces is important for understanding the mechanisms of different physiological processes. Here, the authors report on the development of a cell membrane anchored gold nanoparticle for surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy determination of pH.
- Leonardo Puppulin
- , Shigekuni Hosogi
- & Yoshinori Marunaka
-
Comment
| Open AccessAligning academia and industry for unified battery performance metrics
- Zhan Lin
- , Tiefeng Liu
- & Chengdu Liang
-
Comment
| Open AccessPerformance metrics and enabling technologies for nanoplasmonic biosensors
- Sang-Hyun Oh
- & Hatice Altug
-
Comment
| Open AccessCurrent status and technological prospect of photodetectors based on two-dimensional materials
- Gerasimos Konstantatos
-
Comment
| Open AccessChallenges hindering memristive neuromorphic hardware from going mainstream
- Gina C. Adam
- , Ali Khiat
- & Themis Prodromakis
-
Comment
| Open AccessEnabling thin-film transistor technologies and the device metrics that matter
- Alexandra F. Paterson
- & Thomas D. Anthopoulos
-
Comment
| Open AccessScaling of next generation solution processed organic and perovskite solar cells
- Paul Meredith
- & Ardalan Armin
-
Comment
| Open AccessAddressing the stability issue of perovskite solar cells for commercial applications
When translating photovoltaic technology from laboratory to commercial products, low cost, high power conversion efficiency, and high stability (long lifetime) are the three key metrics to consider in addition to other factors, such as low toxicity, low energy payback time, etc. As one of the most promising photovoltaic materials with high efficiency, today organic–inorganic metal halide perovskites draw tremendous attention from fundamental research, but their practical relevance still remains unclear owing to the notorious short device operation time. In this comment, we discuss the stability issue of perovskite photovoltaics and call for standardized protocols for device characterizations that could possibly match the silicon industrial standards.
- Lei Meng
- , Jingbi You
- & Yang Yang
-
Article
| Open AccessMagic number colloidal clusters as minimum free energy structures
Magic number cluster with closed shells and increased stability often result from potential energy minimization between attractive atoms or particles. Here, Wang et al. show that such magic number clusters can also result from entropy maximization in colloidal systems with negligible interactions.
- Junwei Wang
- , Chrameh Fru Mbah
- & Nicolas Vogel
-
Article
| Open AccessMolecular Russian dolls
Hierarchical non-intertwined ring-in-ring complexes are intriguing but challenging supramolecular targets. Here, the authors describe a box-in-box assembly based on radical-pairing interactions between two rigid diradical dicationic cyclophanes; the inner box can further accommodate guests to form Russian doll-like assemblies.
- Kang Cai
- , Mark C. Lipke
- & J. Fraser Stoddart
-
Article
| Open AccessTwo-dimensional transition metal carbides as supports for tuning the chemistry of catalytic nanoparticles
The performance of supported metal nanoparticle catalysts can be tailored by metal-support interactions, but their use in catalyst design is still challenging. Here, the authors develop two-dimensional transition metal carbides as platforms for designing intermetallic compound catalysts that are efficient for light alkane dehydrogenations.
- Zhe Li
- , Liang Yu
- & Yue Wu
-
Article
| Open AccessMaterials genomics methods for high-throughput construction of COFs and targeted synthesis
The discovery of new covalent organic framework (COF) topologies is often led by trial-and-error experiments. Here, the authors present a methodology for high throughput construction of COFs based on a materials genomics strategy and demonstrate the synthesis of the generated 2D and 3D-COFs.
- Youshi Lan
- , Xianghao Han
- & Chongli Zhong
-
Article
| Open AccessNear-zero effective impedance with finite phase velocity for sensing and actuation enhancement by resonator pairing
In spite of extensive studies on zero-index metamaterials, the realization of zero impedance with finite phase velocity has not been explored. Here, the authors show that this extreme case, realized by elaborately-tuned paired resonators, can effectively enhance sensing and actuation.
- Kiyean Kim
- , Chung Il Park
- & Yoon Young Kim
-
Article
| Open AccessLayer-by-layer biofunctionalization of nanostructured porous silicon for high-sensitivity and high-selectivity label-free affinity biosensing
In label-free biosensing surface functionalisation is a complex issue that can affect sensing performance. Here, the authors report on an electrostatic layer-by-layer technique to functionalize a surface and demonstrate this technique using biotinylated polymer for streptavidin detection in saliva.
- Stefano Mariani
- , Valentina Robbiano
- & Giuseppe Barillaro
-
Article
| Open AccessFrequency-tunable toughening in a polymer-metal-ceramic stack using an interfacial molecular nanolayer
The toughening of layered composite materials during cyclic loading remains poorly understood. Here, the authors introduce an interfacial nanolayer to a polymer-metal-ceramic stack to triple the fracture energy during cyclic loading via nanolayer-induced interfacial bond strengthening and load transfer to the polymer layer.
- Matthew Kwan
- , Muriel Braccini
- & Ganpati Ramanath
-
Article
| Open AccessReaction kinetics of ultracold molecule-molecule collisions
Chemical few-body reactions at ultralow temperatures exhibit scaling laws which are directly linked to the nature of the involved particles and their interactions. Here, the authors investigate the kinetics of four-body collision processes where diatomic molecules which are composed of ultracold fermionic atoms are either formed or dissociated.
- Daniel K. Hoffmann
- , Thomas Paintner
- & Johannes Hecker Denschlag
-
Article
| Open AccessAn AIEgen-based 3D covalent organic framework for white light-emitting diodes
3D covalent organic frameworks (COF) show interesting hierarchical arrangements of nanopores and open sites but their synthesis remains challenging. Here the authors report a fluorescent AIEgen-based 3D COF and demonstrate application as a coating material for white LEDs and for sensing of picric acid
- Huimin Ding
- , Jian Li
- & Cheng Wang
-
Article
| Open AccessCreation of equal-spin triplet superconductivity at the Al/EuS interface
Spectroscopic evidence of equal-spin triplet Cooper pairs is still missing so far. Here, Diesch et al. propose a unique signature for the presence of equal-spin triplet pairs and experimentally reveal the spin configuration of triplet pairs at the Al/EuS interface.
- S. Diesch
- , P. Machon
- & E. Scheer
-
Article
| Open AccessAnomalous diffusion along metal/ceramic interfaces
Little is known about diffusion along metal/ceramic interfaces even though it controls the physical behavior and lifetimes of many devices (including batteries, microelectronics, and jet engines). Here, the authors show that diffusion along a nickel/sapphire interface is abnormally fast due to nickel vacancies and generalise their findings to a wide-range of metal/ceramic systems.
- Aakash Kumar
- , Hagit Barda
- & David J. Srolovitz
-
Article
| Open AccessEfficient oxygen evolution electrocatalysis in acid by a perovskite with face-sharing IrO6 octahedral dimers
While splitting water may provide a renewable source of carbon-neutral energy, the water oxidation half-reaction is sluggish and the materials needed show poor stability. Here, authors demonstrate an unusual iridium-based oxide to perform high-efficiency oxygen evolution in acid with good stability.
- Lan Yang
- , Guangtao Yu
- & Xiaoxin Zou
-
Article
| Open AccessMacromolecular-clustered facial amphiphilic antimicrobials
Bacterial infections and antibiotic resistance are an increasing concern for the world. Here the authors report a class of cationic antimicrobial polymers that cluster local facial amphiphilicity from repeating units to enhance interactions with bacterial membranes without requiring a high unfavorable entropic loss.
- Md Anisur Rahman
- , Marpe Bam
- & Chuanbing Tang
-
Article
| Open AccessA machine learning approach for online automated optimization of super-resolution optical microscopy
Complex imaging systems like super-resolution microscopes currently require laborious parameter optimization before imaging. Here, the authors present an imaging optimization framework based on machine learning that performs simultaneous parameter optimization to simplify this procedure for a wide range of imaging tasks.
- Audrey Durand
- , Theresa Wiesner
- & Flavie Lavoie-Cardinal
-
Article
| Open AccessIrradiation-induced palladium-catalyzed decarboxylative desaturation enabled by a dual ligand system
Production of alkenes through decarboxyolefination of carboxylates is a synthetically useful process. Here, the authors report a palladium/dual ligand-enabled decarboxylative desaturation reaction under mild irradiation conditions and apply it to the synthesis of Chondriamide A and C.
- Wan-Min Cheng
- , Rui Shang
- & Yao Fu
-
Article
| Open AccessThermal assisted self-organization of calcium carbonate
Self-organization of multi-textured mineral architectures is challenging. Here, the authors control the growth temperature of silica carbonate biomorphs and demonstrated the structure is not limited to orthorhombic carbonates and open a route for creating complex self-organised silica and chalk materials.
- Gan Zhang
- , Cristobal Verdugo-Escamilla
- & Juan Manuel García-Ruiz
-
Article
| Open AccessPhase diagram of Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+δ revisited
The doping level of cuprate superconductors is usually difficult to determine. Here, Drozdov et al. report spectroscopic studies of in-situ modified Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+δ, exploring not only the superconducting dome but also the previously inaccessible, non-superconducting regime of the phase diagram, with absolute determination of the doping level.
- I. K. Drozdov
- , I. Pletikosić
- & T. Valla