Physical sciences articles within Nature Communications

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  • Article
    | Open Access

    Identifying trends in electrocatalytic activity for carbon dioxide reduction can help with catalyst design, but are difficult to define. Here, the authors develop an electrochemical kinetic model of the process, identifying scaling relations relating transition state energies to CO adsorption energy on metal surfaces.

    • Xinyan Liu
    • , Jianping Xiao
    •  & Jens K. Nørskov

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Long-range magnetic order hardly ever emerges in a two-dimensional system due to the competition of fundamental magnetic interactions. Here, Girovskyet al. directly observe a long-range ferrimagnetic order emerging in a two-dimensional supramolecular Kondo lattice.

    • Jan Girovsky
    • , Jan Nowakowski
    •  & Nirmalya Ballav

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Devices based on antiferromagnetic materials have advantages of robustness to external magnetic fields and the potential for ultrafast operation. Here the authors present a multilevel antiferromagnetic memory cell that can be operated using standard electronic interfaces.

    • K. Olejník
    • , V. Schuler
    •  & T. Jungwirth

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Axially chiral arylquinazolinones are structural motifs in several natural products and can also act as chiral ligands. Here, the authors show a chiral phosphoric acid-catalysed strategy to access enantiomerically pure arylquinazolinones by efficient transfer of central chirality into axial chirality.

    • Yong-Bin Wang
    • , Sheng-Cai Zheng
    •  & Bin Tan

  • Article
    | Open Access

    For specific problems, analog optical computing can be faster and more computationally efficient than digital methods. Here, Zhuet al. simplify the often metamaterial-based approach to a single thin metal film, with which they demonstrate spatial differentiation.

    • Tengfeng Zhu
    • , Yihan Zhou
    •  & Shanhui Fan

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Materials in large magnetic fields can be driven into the quantum limit, where electrons occupy only the lowest Landau level and the response is determined by interactions. Here the authors go beyond this limit by emptying one or two of bismuth’s electronic valleys, depending on the field direction.

    • Zengwei Zhu
    • , Jinhua Wang
    •  & Kamran Behnia

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Mesoporous noble metal nanostructures offer great promise in catalytic applications. Here, Yamauchi and co-workers synthesize mesoporous rhodium nanoparticles using polymeric micelle templates, and report appreciable activities for methanol oxidation and NO remediation.

    • Bo Jiang
    • , Cuiling Li
    •  & Yusuke Yamauchi

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Chiral domain walls in magnetic films can be electrically controlled, which makes them attractive for applications, but domain walls in ultrathin films are normally non-chiral. Here, the authors observe chiral domain walls in ultrathin Fe/Ni bilayers that are stabilized by the magnetic anisotropy.

    • Gong Chen
    • , Sang Pyo Kang
    •  & Andreas K. Schmid

  • Article
    | Open Access

    A number of nanomaterials for dual diagnostic and therapeutic application have a number of limitations including poor signal-to-noise ratio. Here, the authors developed dual stimuli-responsive and reversibly activatable nanoprobes for tumour targeting and fluorescence-guided photothermal therapy.

    • Xu Zhao
    • , Cheng-Xiong Yang
    •  & Xiu-Ping Yan

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Fundamental understanding of glass dynamics is challenging owing to their complex non-equilibrium nature and thus the multi-dimensional potential energy landscape. Here, Fanet al. present a model to explore the glass energy landscape driven by thermal activation and relaxation, which are temporally decoupled.

    • Yue Fan
    • , Takuya Iwashita
    •  & Takeshi Egami

  • Article
    | Open Access

    While mechanisms have been proposed for the prebiotic nucleotide synthesis, these require separate (and potentially incompatible) routes for pyrimidines and purines. Here the authors show that both of these classes of molecules can be formed by a divergent synthesis from a common prebiotic precursor.

    • Shaun Stairs
    • , Arif Nikmal
    •  & Matthew W. Powner

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Near-infrared (NIR) fluorescence imaging >1,000 nm allows deep tissue imaging, but available organic dyes display poor brightness and temporal resolution. Here, the authors synthesize a NIR dye that, upon binding serum proteins, exhibits a 110-fold increase in intensity, giving an 11% quantum yield.

    • Alexander L. Antaris
    • , Hao Chen
    •  & Zhen Cheng

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Star motifs are ubiquitous throughout nature and in man-made architectures, but their molecular level design remains challenging. Here the authors present a stepwise approach to self-assemble pentagonal and hexagonal star-shaped metallo-architectures through the careful design of metallo-organic ligands.

    • Zhilong Jiang
    • , Yiming Li
    •  & Pingshan Wang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    There have been numerous attempts to develop nanomaterials to reach cells of the central nervous system for drug delivery. Here, the authors investigate the cellular fate of polymer-based nanoparticles with varying surface chemistries after administration directly into the brain.

    • Eric Song
    • , Alice Gaudin
    •  & W. Mark Saltzman

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Holograms generally need to be as thick as a wavelength of light to introduce the necessary optical phase shifts that create true three-dimensional images. Here, Yueet al. use a high-index topological insulator material to create a resonant optical cavity and thin holograms to the nanometre scale.

    • Zengji Yue
    • , Gaolei Xue
    •  & Min Gu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The signal detected in magnetic resonance imaging comes from the relaxation of proton nuclear magnetization. Here, Zhouet al. introduce magnetic field inhomogeneity as a parameter to design iron oxide nanoparticle clusters to enhance the relaxation rate of nearby protons, thereby increasing image contrast.

    • Zijian Zhou
    • , Rui Tian
    •  & Xiaoyuan Chen

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Heat conduction at the nanoscale is unlike macroscopic diffusion and phonons can travel in straight lines without dissipation. Here Anufrievet al. show that heat conduction can be spatially directed in nanostructured silicon and exploit this effect to concentrate heat into a focal point.

    • Roman Anufriev
    • , Aymeric Ramiere
    •  & Masahiro Nomura

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Origami is widely practiced in the design of foldable structures for smart applications and usually consists of stiff sheets that only deform along prescribed creases. Pinsonet al. take a statistical physics approach to design and characterize arbitrary patterns as a function of folding energy.

    • Matthew B. Pinson
    • , Menachem Stern
    •  & Arvind Murugan

  • Article
    | Open Access

    DNA hybridization of two single-strands to form a double-stranded helix is widely used for genomic identification applications. Here, Vernicket al. record duplex formation of 20-mer oligonucleotide using a single-molecule field-effect transistor, where DNA kinetics is affected by electrostatic bias.

    • Sefi Vernick
    • , Scott M. Trocchia
    •  & Kenneth L. Shepard

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Singlet fission is an important process occurring in solar cells, however the mechanism is not well understood. Here the authors reveal intermediates during singlet fission of a non-conjugated pentacene dimer, developing a single kinetic model to describe the data over seven temporal orders of magnitude at room and cryogenic temperatures.

    • Bettina S. Basel
    • , Johannes Zirzlmeier
    •  & Dirk M. Guldi

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The feedback mechanism in random fibre lasers has been insofar deemed incoherent. To reveal the dynamic evolution of the random fibre laser spectra, Sugavanamet al. use a real-time spectral measurement technique and observe long-lived narrowband components in the random fibre laser’s spectrum.

    • Srikanth Sugavanam
    • , Mariia Sorokina
    •  & Dmitry V. Churkin

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Foldamers are synthetic oligomers that adopt folded conformations through non-covalent intramolecular interactions. Here, Cariniet al. describe a family of foldamers with a large number of anthracene units that are able to transport charge efficiently at the single-molecule level.

    • Marco Carini
    • , Marta P. Ruiz
    •  & Aurelio Mateo-Alonso

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Polyamines bind to nucleic acids and their function is regulated by reversible acetylation. Here, the authors show that histone deacetylase 10 is a polyamine deacetylase and present its crystal structure with a bound polyamine transition state analogue inhibitor.

    • Yang Hai
    • , Stephen A. Shinsky
    •  & David W. Christianson

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Crowding effects—important when considering cellular environments—greatly influence protein stability. Here the authors study the impact of macromolecular crowders on high and low temperature protein unfolding, and show that volume exclusion effects are larger when the protein and crowder volumes are similar.

    • Caterina Alfano
    • , Domenico Sanfelice
    •  & Piero Andrea Temussi

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Understanding ice nucleation is important for the development of accurate cloud models. Here Biet al. show that sharp wedges can enhance ice nucleation both when the wedge geometry matches the ice lattice and when such matching is absent, in which case nucleation is promoted by topological defects.

    • Yuanfei Bi
    • , Boxiao Cao
    •  & Tianshu Li

  • Article
    | Open Access

    In water-alkali electrolyzers, sluggish water dissociation kinetics on platinum-free electrocatalysts result in poor hydrogen-production activities. Here the authors report a MoNi4electrocatalyst which reduces the kinetic energy barrier of water dissociation, leading to improved hydrogen-production performance.

    • Jian Zhang
    • , Tao Wang
    •  & Xinliang Feng

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Identifying crystallographic phases in solution is not possible with standard diffraction methods. Here, Limet al. demonstrate the in situidentification of cubic and hexagonal phases of cadmium selenide nanocrystals using optical methods based on first-principles electronic theory.

    • Sung Jun Lim
    • , André Schleife
    •  & Andrew M. Smith

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Ion implantation is used to introduce spin defects in solids, but it inflicts residual lattice damage, degrading performances. Here the authors demonstrate that the charge state of induced defects influences such damage, and that charging vacancies leads to improved coherence times and yield of centres.

    • Felipe Fávaro de Oliveira
    • , Denis Antonov
    •  & Jörg Wrachtrup

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Quantum compressed sensing can provide a scalable way to characterize quantum states and devices, but has been so far limited to states with quickly decaying eigenvalues. Here the authors show that it can be appropriate even in the general case, demonstrating reconstruction the state of a seven-qubit system.

    • C. A. Riofrío
    • , D. Gross
    •  & J. Eisert

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Global regulation of synaptic strengths in neural systems is known as homeoplasticity. Here, Gkoupideniset al. use an electrolyte to connect and control an array of organic electrochemical devices, in order to demonstrate behaviour that resembles homeoplasticity phenomena in the brain.

    • Paschalis Gkoupidenis
    • , Dimitrios A. Koutsouras
    •  & George G. Malliaras

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The link between hydrogen bonding and the optical properties of water has been debated for many years, but not fully understood. Here, the authors report vacuum ultraviolet absorption spectra for subcritical and supercritical water, providing insight into the electronic structure of water and its relation to hydrogen bonding.

    • Timothy W. Marin
    • , Ireneusz Janik
    •  & Daniel M. Chipman

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Microbial fuel cells generate electricity from a variety of sources, however from methane only negligible electrical power has been reported so far. Here the authors convert methane into electricity using a synthetic consortium consisting of an engineered archaeal strain, microorganisms from methane-acclimated sludge, andGeobacter sulfurreducens.

    • Michael J. McAnulty
    • , Venkata G. Poosarla
    •  & Thomas K. Wood

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The study of Maxwell's demon provides a link between information thermodynamics and modern electronics. Using integrated nanometer-scale transistors in a single electron box configuration, Chidaet al., demonstrate the extraction of electrical power by Maxwell’s demon.

    • Kensaku Chida
    • , Samarth Desai
    •  & Akira Fujiwara

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Synthesis of small conjugated polymer nanoparticles (Pdots) with bright and stable fluorescence is an active challenge. Here, the authors introduce a strategy to fabricate ultrasmall Pdots with high fluorescence intensity by using twisted, rather than planar, conjugated polymers, lending new insight into the molecular design of Pdots.

    • Hubert Piwoński
    • , Tsuyoshi Michinobu
    •  & Satoshi Habuchi

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Conducting ferroelectric domain walls constitute a new class of functional material, but to achieve site-specific injection and annihilation of such walls is challenging. Here, McQuaidet al. report site-specific injection of such walls in Cu3B7O13Cl created by local point-stress and controlled by electric field.

    • Raymond G.P. McQuaid
    • , Michael P. Campbell
    •  & J. Marty Gregg

  • Article
    | Open Access

    It is believed that patterns of social ties are related to individuals’ financial status. Here the authors substantiate this concept by quantitatively demonstrating that a measure of an individual’s location and influence within their social network can be used to infer their economic wellness.

    • Shaojun Luo
    • , Flaviano Morone
    •  & Hernán A. Makse

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Bacteria continuously inject energy into their surroundings and thus induce chaotic like flows, namely meso-scale turbulence. Here, the authors show that transition to meso-scale turbulence and inertial turbulence observed in pipes share the same scaling behavior that belongs to the directed percolation universality class.

    • Amin Doostmohammadi
    • , Tyler N. Shendruk
    •  & Julia M. Yeomans

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