Physical sciences articles within Nature Communications

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  • Article
    | Open Access

    Manipulating the assembly of π-conjugated organic molecules into alloys to control composition and shape remains a largely unsolved problem. Here the authors show the co-assembly of two structurally similar organic semiconductors into two-component helices by control of their growth kinetics as well as the molar ratio of the building blocks.

    • Yilong Lei
    • , Yanqiu Sun
    •  & Hongbing Fu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Gels filtering particles by interactions are a goal of nanotechnology; this is difficult when particles are larger than the mesh of the gel. Here, the authors present an equilibrium mechanism where binding dynamics of crosslinks are affected by interacting particles so that particles experience enhanced diffusion.

    • Carl P. Goodrich
    • , Michael P. Brenner
    •  & Katharina Ribbeck

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The emergence of superconductivity from the normal state in the cuprates above the transition temperature (Tc) has been controversial. Here, Pelc et al. report nonlinear conductivity, resulting from superconducting precursors only, vanishing exponentially above Tc both with temperature and with magnetic field.

    • Damjan Pelc
    • , Marija Vučković
    •  & Neven Barišić

  • Review Article
    | Open Access

    Polyelectrolytes are a class of macromolecules containing charged groups. Here the authors review properties and functions of metallo-polyelectrolytes to shed light on how to harness fundamental physiochemical properties for applications in biomedical sciences and advanced materials.

    • Tianyu Zhu
    • , Ye Sha
    •  & Chuanbing Tang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Bounding the capacity of thermal attenuators would give a powerful instrument to describe decoherence occurring in optical fibres and free space links. Here, the authors improve on the existing upper bounds in the region of small thermal noise, which is of interest for quantum communication.

    • Matteo Rosati
    • , Andrea Mari
    •  & Vittorio Giovannetti

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Interactions between metal nanoparticles (NPs) and metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) in their composite forms have proven to exhibit beneficial properties. Here the authors present a unique approach to immobilise Pd NPs and, more importantly, to generate tunable basic sites within an anionic defective MOF.

    • Ying Chuan Tan
    •  & Hua Chun Zeng

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Current digital coding metasurfaces are only space-encoded. Here, the authors propose space-time modulated digital coding metasurfaces to obtain simultaneous manipulations of electromagnetic waves and present harmonic beam steering, beam shaping, and scattering-signature control as application examples.

    • Lei Zhang
    • , Xiao Qing Chen
    •  & Tie Jun Cui

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Interfering RNA have a range of therapeutic and research based applications, issues with delivery have made systems that make siRNA in situ of interest. Here, the author report on the creation of a DNA hydrogel with improved stability and transcription efficiency over plasmid DNA.

    • Jaejung Song
    • , Minhyuk Lee
    •  & Nokyoung Park

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Exciton diffusion length and directionality are important parameters in artificial photosynthetic devices. Here, the authors present a way to make crystalline chromophore assemblies with bespoke architecture, fabricating one exhibiting anisotropic exciton transport properties.

    • Ritesh Haldar
    • , Marius Jakoby
    •  & Christof Wöll

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Hematite has been proposed as a suitable photocatalyst for water splitting based on its stability and appealing optical band gap, but its performance has not reached theoretical expectations. Here the authors show that this is due to intra-gap polaronic states that reduce the effective electronic band gap.

    • Christian Lohaus
    • , Andreas Klein
    •  & Wolfram Jaegermann

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Ultrafast light pulses can manipulate and probe materials faster than relaxation timescales, leading to new electronic states and insights into equilibrium properties. Okazaki et al. use the properties of photo-induced metallic states to investigate unconventional correlated behaviour in Ta2NiSe5 and Ta2NiS5.

    • Kozo Okazaki
    • , Yu Ogawa
    •  & Shik Shin

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Non-Hermitian properties were proposed to be beneficial to sensing but it is not clear if this concept can be extended to the quantum regime. Here, Lau and Clerk self-consistently consider the impact of noise and measurement, and identify that nonreciprocity can improve sensing capabilities.

    • Hoi-Kwan Lau
    •  & Aashish A. Clerk

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Photosensitizers delivered to mitochondria of cancer cells can enhance photodynamic therapy. Here, the authors report mitochondria-targeted radiation therapy and radiodynamic therapy of colorectal cancer models with a cationic nanoscale metal-organic framework to overcome shallow light penetration of Ru-based photosensitizers.

    • Kaiyuan Ni
    • , Guangxu Lan
    •  & Wenbin Lin

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Despite the need to develop resistive random access memory (RRAM) devices for machine learning, RRAM array-based hardware methods for algorithm require external electronics. Here, the authors realize a Markov chain algorithm in a single 2D multilayer SnSe device without external electronics.

    • He Tian
    • , Xue-Feng Wang
    •  & Tian-Ling Ren

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Selenium has emerged as a metalloid for the catalytic construction of C–N bonds; however no functionalisation of aromatic compounds has been developed yet. Here, the authors report the para-amination of phenols via two successive sigmatropic rearrangements of a redox versatile Se–N bond.

    • Dingyuan Yan
    • , Guoqiang Wang
    •  & Jing Zhao

  • Article
    | Open Access

    At low temperatures and dimensionality it has become possible to probe the quantum limits of heat transport. Tavakoli et al. show that heat transport through a one-dimensional device can be dominated by non-ideal transmission instead of reaching the regime of thermal conductance quantization.

    • Adib Tavakoli
    • , Kunal Lulla
    •  & Olivier Bourgeois

  • Article
    | Open Access

    A faint gamma-ray burst (GRB 170817A) has been recently detected in coincidence with the gravitational wave (GW) event GW 170817. Here, the authors report that another faint short GRB at a cosmological distance (GRB150101B) and its late time emission are analogous to the neutron star merger event GRB 170817A.

    • E. Troja
    • , G. Ryan
    •  & S. Veilleux

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Here, the authors report on an experimental demonstration of near-field thermal radiation enhancement between metallo-dielectric multilayers separated by submicron gap distances and that near-field thermal radiation can be readily tuned by modifying the resonance condition of coupled surface plasmon polaritons.

    • Mikyung Lim
    • , Jaeman Song
    •  & Bong Jae Lee

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Self-folding origami have applications for mechanical metamaterials but one of their pitfalls is that many undesirable folding modes exist. Here the authors propose an algorithm to determine which folding joints to make stiffer in order to ensure that the sheet is folded into the chosen state.

    • Menachem Stern
    • , Viraaj Jayaram
    •  & Arvind Murugan

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Cell-free DNA (cfDNA) released from damaged or dead cells can activate DNA sensors that exacerbate the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Here the authors use ~40 nm cationic nanoparticles to scavenge cfDNA, and demonstrate the potential for nanomedicine to relieve debilitating RA symptoms.

    • Huiyi Liang
    • , Bo Peng
    •  & Yongming Chen

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Micromotors have a range of potential healthcare applications. Here, the authors describe the development of a metal nanoparticle DNA micromotor which can be used to detect human HIV-1 by a change in the motion of the micromotors, monitored by cell phone camera, triggered by binding of HIV-1 RNA.

    • Mohamed Shehata Draz
    • , Kamyar Mehrabi Kochehbyoki
    •  & Hadi Shafiee

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Enabling concurrent, high throughput analysis of single nano particles would greatly increase the capacity to study size, composition and inter and intra particle population variance. Here, the authors present a comprehensive platform for single particle automated Raman trapping analysis without any target modification.

    • Jelle Penders
    • , Isaac J. Pence
    •  & Molly M. Stevens

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Incorporation of triboelectric nanogenerators into textiles is attractive for self-powered wearable electronics. Here the authors employ black phosphorus with a hydrophobic coating in a durable, washable, and air permeable textile-based device that converts biomechanical motion into electricity.

    • Jiaqing Xiong
    • , Peng Cui
    •  & Pooi See Lee

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Existing n-type colloidal quantum dot materials easily lose their doping polarity in air. Here Song et al. passivate the reactive covalent surface of indium arsenide quantum dots to gain the energy-level tunability and show p–n junction type solar cells with 7.92% certified efficiency.

    • Jung Hoon Song
    • , Hyekyoung Choi
    •  & Sohee Jeong

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Progressive diseases tend to be heterogeneous in their underlying aetiology mechanism, disease manifestation, and disease time course. Here, Young and colleagues devise a computational method to account for both phenotypic heterogeneity and temporal heterogeneity, and demonstrate it using two neurodegenerative disease cohorts.

    • Alexandra L Young
    • , Razvan V Marinescu
    •  & Ansgar J Furst

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Analysis of bioluminescence images of bacterial distributions in living animals is mostly manual and semiquantitative. Here, the authors present an analysis platform featuring an animal mold, a probabilistic organ atlas, and a mirror gantry to perform automatic in vivo bioluminescence quantification.

    • Alexander D. Klose
    •  & Neal Paragas

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Methane- and ammonia-oxidizing bacteria use the integral membrane, copper-dependent enzymes particulate methane monooxygenase (pMMO) and ammonia monooxygenase (AMO) to oxidize methane and ammonia. Here the authors structurally characterize the copper-binding protein PmoD, which contains an unusual CuA site and their genetic analyses strongly support a pMMO and AMO related function of PmoD.

    • Oriana S. Fisher
    • , Grace E. Kenney
    •  & Amy C. Rosenzweig

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Quantum nonlocality is known to be reducible to quantum uncertainty and steering, but it is unclear whether steering is actually as essential as uncertainty. Here, the authors show that both steering and uncertainty play a role in determining optimal strategies in nonlocal games.

    • Ravishankar Ramanathan
    • , Dardo Goyeneche
    •  & Paweł Horodecki

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Understanding the tunable range of radiative thermal load for a given colour is important for thermal management of outdoor structures. Here, the authors theoretically and experimentally highlighted all mechanisms through which one can control the radiative thermal load of coloured objects.

    • Wei Li
    • , Yu Shi
    •  & Shanhui Fan

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Hyperpolarization methods play a crucial role in the in vivo observation of molecular metabolism by MRI techniques. Here, the authors develop NHC-containing iridium complexes which improve the NMR detectability of 1H, 13C and 15N nuclei via transfer of latent magnetism of para-hydrogen into a substrate.

    • Peter J. Rayner
    • , Philip Norcott
    •  & Simon B. Duckett

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Molecular capsules typically bind only guests with volumes smaller than their cavities. Here, the authors find that a polyaromatic capsule accommodates linear amphiphilic oligomers in a length-dependent manner, whereas short chains are fully crammed into the cavity, long chains can be incorporated into the capsule in a threaded fashion.

    • Masahiro Yamashina
    • , Shunsuke Kusaba
    •  & Michito Yoshizawa

  • Article
    | Open Access

    “Conventional chemotherapy-photothermal therapy combination has limited efficacy in drug resistant cancers. Here they develop Copper-palladium tetrapod nanoparticles to overcome these challenges and show them to work in synergy with autophagy inhibitors to treat drug resistant cancers”

    • Yunjiao Zhang
    • , Rui Sha
    •  & Long-ping Wen

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The tracking and targeted release of multi-agents to cooperatively treat cancer is a developing and evolving field. Here, the authors demonstrate the anticancer effects of cubic Pd hydride nanocrystals with photoacoustic imaging properties that can release hydrogen under an NIR trigger and have photothermal effects.

    • Penghe Zhao
    • , Zhaokui Jin
    •  & Qianjun He

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The quantum-confined Stark effect is conventionally observed in inorganic semiconductor multilayer quantum well structures that are expensive to make. Here Walters et al. report large Stark effects in easily made layered hybrid perovskites and exploit the orientational polarizability of dipolar cations.

    • G. Walters
    • , M. Wei
    •  & E. Sargent

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Topological effects can be emulated using photonic lattices where the length of a waveguide represents time, which is often limited by fabrication constraints. Here, Mukherjee et al. exploit a single-photon detector array enabled state-recycling scheme to increase the accessible time scale.

    • Sebabrata Mukherjee
    • , Harikumar K. Chandrasekharan
    •  & Robert R. Thomson

  • Article
    | Open Access

    2D electronic spectroscopy enables a spatially-averaged view of the electronic structure of a heterogeneous system. Here, the authors extend it to sub-micron resolution and ~106 times better sensitivity, to resolve spatially varying excitonic structure in a heterogeneous mixture of photosynthetic cells.

    • Vivek Tiwari
    • , Yassel Acosta Matutes
    •  & Jennifer P. Ogilvie

  • Article
    | Open Access

    How nanocrystals assemble into superlattices is poorly understood, given the difficulty of probing these processes in real time, in a controlled environment. Here, the authors use space- and time-resolved in situ small angle X-ray scattering to monitor the ordering of nanocrystal superlattices by electric field, which allows them to extract quantitative information about the assembly process.

    • Yixuan Yu
    • , Dian Yu
    •  & Christine A. Orme

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Characterizing plasmonic coupling has proven elusive. Here, the authors obtain a spectrally resolved deflection map related to a focused electron beam, which has excited a surface plasmon resonance, and relate this deflection to the spectral component of the induced electric and magnetic fields pertaining to the mode.

    • J. Krehl
    • , G. Guzzinati
    •  & A. Lubk

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Modern energy-storage technologies are based on porous electrodes that store charge within nanometrically-narrow pores or slits. Here the authors show an approach to probe and measure, for the first time, the charging dynamics within an individual nano-slit – the basic element of a porous electrode.

    • Ran Tivony
    • , Sam Safran
    •  & Jacob Klein

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Singlet fission results in the formation of a pair of triplets, known as a quintet. Here, the authors identify long-lived quintets in dilute pentacene films at room temperature, with lifetimes influenced by intermolecular geometry having implications for the design of triplet-harvesting films.

    • Daphné Lubert-Perquel
    • , Enrico Salvadori
    •  & Christopher W. M. Kay

  • Article
    | Open Access

    With the rapid development of quantum computers, quantum machine learning approaches are emerging as powerful tools to perform electronic structure calculations. Here, the authors develop a quantum machine learning algorithm, which demonstrates significant improvements in solving quantum many-body problems.

    • Rongxin Xia
    •  & Sabre Kais

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Experimental determination of the contact angle of a two-dimensional film is crucial to understand its wettability characteristics. Here, the authors use the captive bubble method to estimate a contact angle value of 42° ± 3° for a monolayer graphene film.

    • Anna V. Prydatko
    • , Liubov A. Belyaeva
    •  & Grégory F. Schneider

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