Physical sciences articles within Nature Communications

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  • Article
    | Open Access

    The unique electronic properties of two-dimensional materials are determined not only by their shape, but also the precise atomic arrangement of atoms along edges. Here, Chenet al. have developed a bottom-up epitaxial growth of MoSe2nanoribbons that controls both geometry and edge states.

    • Yuxuan Chen
    • , Ping Cui
    •  & Chih-Kang Shih

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Liquid helium can be treated as an ideal gas or a condensed liquid and displays intriguing features like Bose–Einstein condensation. Here the authors show that roton excitation reveals information on real space dynamic atom-atom correlations in superfluid helium, which could be used to benchmark models.

    • W. Dmowski
    • , S. O. Diallo
    •  & T. Egami

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Electronic bandgap tuning in semiconductors enables key functionalities in solid-state devices. Here, the authors present a strategy to control the bandgap of atomically thin WS2 and WSe2semiconductors via manipulation of the surrounding dielectric environment rather than by modifications of the materials themselves.

    • Archana Raja
    • , Andrey Chaves
    •  & Alexey Chernikov

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Many methods exist for the atroposelective synthesis of axially chiral biaryls, but axially chiral styrenes are much less explored. Here the authors report an organocatalytic procedure for the synthesis of configurationally stable, axially chiral styrenes with high enantio- and diastereoselectivities.

    • Sheng-Cai Zheng
    • , San Wu
    •  & Bin Tan

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Super-resolution localization microscopy produces biophysical information in the form of estimated positions of single molecules. Here, Lindénet al. estimate the uncertainty of single localizations, and show that this additional information can improve data analysis and localization precision.

    • Martin Lindén
    • , Vladimir Ćurić
    •  & Johan Elf

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Water treatment processes mostly rely on the use of membranes and filters, which have high pumping costs and require periodic replacement. Here, the authors describe an efficient membraneless method that induces directed motion of suspended colloidal particles by exposing the suspension to CO2.

    • Sangwoo Shin
    • , Orest Shardt
    •  & Howard A. Stone

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Direct hydrogenation of CO2 into liquid fuels can mitigate CO2 emissions and reduce the rapid depletion of fossil fuels. Here, the authors show an iron-based multifunctional catalyst that converts CO2to gasoline with high selectivity due to synergistic cooperation of multiple catalytic active sites.

    • Jian Wei
    • , Qingjie Ge
    •  & Jian Sun

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Heterocycles are ubiquitous in bioactive compounds and routes to different substitution patterns are important to access the full substrate space. Here the authors report a route to 4,5,7,8-substituted antiviral fluorescent quinazolines, to allow cellular uptake visualization without external marker.

    • Felix E. Held
    • , Anton A. Guryev
    •  & Svetlana B. Tsogoeva

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Ice recrystallization is important for a range of research fields, both applied and fundamental, however the effect of ions on this process is not well known. Here the authors discover an ion-specific Hofmeister type effect on ice recrystallization, using this phenomenon to prepare porous materials with tuneable pore sizes.

    • Shuwang Wu
    • , Chongqin Zhu
    •  & Jianjun Wang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Aqueous formaldehyde is an attractive hydrogen storage system due to the high weight percentage of hydrogen present. Here the authors report a highly active homogeneous ruthenium catalyst system, allowing hydrogen production from formaldehyde-water under mild conditions.

    • M. Trincado
    • , Vivek Sinha
    •  & Hansjörg Grützmacher

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Ordered mesoporous carbons have shown promise in a range of applications, but sustainable methods to achieve their large scale production are lacking. Here, Dai and coworkers produce OMCs via the mechanochemical assembly of non-toxic polyphenol-metal complexes and triblock copolymers, followed by pyrolysis.

    • Pengfei Zhang
    • , Li Wang
    •  & Sheng Dai

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Liquid crystal mixtures are used in commercial applications and their composition affects their properties. Here Rahimiet al. use atomistic simulations to show that defects influence the molecular arrangement of the mixture components leading to a deviation of the local order from that of the bulk.

    • Mohammad Rahimi
    • , Hadi Ramezani-Dakhel
    •  & Juan J. de Pablo

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Emulsions are mixtures of liquids which have applications to pharmaceutical, cosmetic and food components. Here Tcholakovaet al. have developed a low-energy emulsification method which requires a low amount of surfactant, works for temperature-sensitive compounds and has potential for scale-up.

    • Slavka Tcholakova
    • , Zhulieta Valkova
    •  & Stoyan K. Smoukov

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Energetic liquids often suffer from low energy density. Here, the authors create a highly energetic liquid by stabilizing aluminium nanoparticles in ferritin liquid protein, and use this ink to print energetic 3D structures.

    • Joseph M. Slocik
    • , Ruel McKenzie
    •  & Rajesh R. Naik

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Silver compounds have long been known to possess exceptional solid-state conductivity. Here the authors present silvercloso-boranes in which facile Ag+migration occurs, leading to exceptionally high ion conductivities and potential utility in silver nanowire production and photocatalysis due to their semiconductivity.

    • Mark Paskevicius
    • , Bjarne R. S. Hansen
    •  & Torben R. Jensen

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Electronegativity is a fundamental concept in chemistry; however it is an elusive quantity to evaluate experimentally. Here, the authors estimate the Pauling electronegativity of individual atoms on a surface via atomic force microscopy using a variety of chemically reactive tips.

    • Jo Onoda
    • , Martin Ondráček
    •  & Yoshiaki Sugimoto

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Quantum communications will be used to transmit entanglement and secure keys, but it is important to estimate their optimal transfer rates. Here the authors compute the fundamental limit of repeaterless quantum communications for the most relevant practical scenario.

    • Stefano Pirandola
    • , Riccardo Laurenza
    •  & Leonardo Banchi

  • Article
    | Open Access

    In lithium-ion batteries the interactions between the electrode and electrolyte represent a complex but critical process. Here the authors reveal the dynamic behaviour of interphases driven by conductive carbon through chemical and imaging analyses of a model transition-metal oxide cathode material.

    • Wangda Li
    • , Andrei Dolocan
    •  & Arumugam Manthiram

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Unravelling the fundamental mechanisms of emergence of complex behaviour is key to understanding living systems. Here, the authors provide a simple experimental platform to investigate and control a rich set of complex phenomena, akin to those seen in living organisms, from a nonliving system of colloidal nanoparticles.

    • Serim Ilday
    • , Ghaith Makey
    •  & F. Ömer Ilday

  • Article
    | Open Access

    As alkali-ion battery anodes, metal oxide nanomaterials suffer from severe structural degradation after charging/discharging cycling. Here the authors develop two-dimensional holey nanosheet anodes which display minimal structural changes during electrochemical operation.

    • Lele Peng
    • , Pan Xiong
    •  & Guihua Yu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Hyperpolarized magnetic resonance imaging can enhance imaging contrast by orders of magnitude, but applications are limited by the thermal relaxation of hyperpolarized states. Here, Waddingtonet al. demonstrate the on-demand hyperpolarization of hydrogen spins through the Overhauser effect with nanodiamonds.

    • David E. J. Waddington
    • , Mathieu Sarracanie
    •  & Matthew S. Rosen

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Active fluids consist of self-driven particles that can drive spontaneous flow without the intervention of external forces. Here Woodhouseet al. show how to design logic circuits using this phenomenon in active fluid networks, which could be further exploited for autonomous microfluidic computing.

    • Francis G. Woodhouse
    •  & Jörn Dunkel

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Controlling surface wettability using visible light is highly attractive for a range of liquid separation technologies. Here, Varanasi, McKinley and colleagues fabricate dye-sensitized photocatalytic TiO2surfaces on which liquid droplet motion can be externally manipulated by visible light illumination.

    • Gibum Kwon
    • , Divya Panchanathan
    •  & Kripa K. Varanasi

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Despite recent technological advances, it remains challenging to realize reversible high-areal-capacity lithium metal anodes. Here, the authors demonstrate such an anode by tailoring the top solid electrolyte interphase layer.

    • Hui Wang
    • , Masaki Matsui
    •  & Nobuyuki Imanishi

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Vacancies in 2D materials can influence their properties, however controlling their formation remains a challenge. Here the authors show that selective etching of a 3D laminate with in-plane chemical ordering results in formation of MXenes with ordered divacancies, as well as elevated conductance and supercapacitance.

    • Quanzheng Tao
    • , Martin Dahlqvist
    •  & Johanna Rosen

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Ruthenium is the cheapest platinum-group metal, yet active hydrogen evolution catalysts with low amounts of ruthenium have yet to be designed. Here, the authors report the preparation of a ruthenium–cobalt nanoalloy and demonstrate its potential as an effective hydrogen evolution catalyst in basic media.

    • Jianwei Su
    • , Yang Yang
    •  & Qianwang Chen

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The ability to support the development of a premature fetus in the form of an extracorporeal system has had limited success. Here, the authors show that an extra-uterine device that mimics the intra-uterine environment can provide physiologic support for the extreme premature lamb fetus for four weeks.

    • Emily A. Partridge
    • , Marcus G. Davey
    •  & Alan W. Flake

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Exploring ordered states in similarly structured oxides aids the understanding of structure-property correlations. Here the authors discover an unconventional magnetic order in Sr2(Ir,Rh)O4, which is analogous to a loop-current phase in cuprate superconductors with the same lattice structure.

    • Jaehong Jeong
    • , Yvan Sidis
    •  & Philippe Bourges

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Light-induced deformation known as photostriction could be used for green energy devices but in most materials the effect is too small to be of practical use. Here, Weiet al. study the photostriction of strontium ruthenate and find photon-induced strain efficiencies of more than one percent.

    • Tzu-Chiao Wei
    • , Hsin-Ping Wang
    •  & Jr-Hau He

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Semiconducting materials are potential SERS substrates as alternatives to noble metals, but often suffer from poor stabilities and sensitivities. Here, the authors use molybdenum dioxide as a SERS material, showing high enhancement factors and stability to oxidation even at high temperatures.

    • Qiqi Zhang
    • , Xinshi Li
    •  & Guangcheng Xi

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Recent advances have enabled high-speed three-dimensional optical imaging through the use of fluorescent markers. Here, Chenet al. integrate stimulated Raman imaging into those methods, enabling the label-free and chemically specific volumetric imaging of complex samples.

    • Xueli Chen
    • , Chi Zhang
    •  & Ji-Xin Cheng

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Here the authors show that Ohmic losses are reduced in certain layered metals, such as the transition metal dichalcogenide, due to a small density of states for scattering in the near-IR originating from the electronic band structure, thus leading to improved performance for low-loss plasmonic applications.

    • Morten N. Gjerding
    • , Mohnish Pandey
    •  & Kristian S. Thygesen

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The energy required to control a dynamical complex network can be prohibitively large when there are only a few control inputs. Here the authors demonstrate that if only a subset of the network is targeted the energy requirements decrease exponentially.

    • Isaac Klickstein
    • , Afroza Shirin
    •  & Francesco Sorrentino

  • Article
    | Open Access

    While crystal phase modification may endow materials with altered functionality, the fabrication of allomorphic noble metal nanomaterials is challenging. Here, the authors synthesize an unusual hexagonal close-packed platinum-nickel alloy and demonstrate its enhanced hydrogen evolution catalytic activity.

    • Zhenming Cao
    • , Qiaoli Chen
    •  & Lansun Zheng

  • Article
    | Open Access

    In order to fully utilize sulfur vacancies in MoS2 catalysts for industrial applications, a facile and general route for making sulfur vacancies in MoS2 is needed. Here, the authors introduce a scalable route towards generating sulfur vacancies on the MoS2basal plane using electrochemical desulfurization.

    • Charlie Tsai
    • , Hong Li
    •  & Frank Abild-Pedersen

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Hyper-complex quantum theories are generalizations of quantum mechanics where amplitudes are generalized complex numbers. Here the authors study phase commutation in a photonic experiment, reporting consistency with standard quantum mechanics and placing precise bounds on hyper-complex theories.

    • Lorenzo M. Procopio
    • , Lee A. Rozema
    •  & Philip Walther

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Topological defects play important roles in determining material properties, whilst their core regions remain unexplored due to strongly distorted structures. Zhouet al. take advantage of extended core regions in a chromonic liquid crystal and show both a radial and azimuthal dependent director and scalar order parameter.

    • Shuang Zhou
    • , Sergij V. Shiyanovskii
    •  & Oleg D. Lavrentovich

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Coexistence of a topological insulator phase and a topological crystalline insulator phase helps to maintain topological properties under a controlled symmetry breaking perturbation. Here, Eschbacket al. report a superlattice of Bi and Bi2Te3to be such a dual topological insulator.

    • Markus Eschbach
    • , Martin Lanius
    •  & Claus M. Schneider

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Secondary organic aerosols (SOA) are important for climate and aerosol quality, but the phase state is unclear. Here, the authors show that SOA is liquid in tropical and polar air, semi-solid in the mid-latitudes, solid over dry lands and in a glassy solid phase state in the middle and upper troposphere.

    • Manabu Shiraiwa
    • , Ying Li
    •  & Ulrich Pöschl

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Quantum Hall phases in two-dimensional systems have chiral edges, along which electrons propagate in one direction without backscattering. Here, the authors use nuclear magnetic resonance to demonstrate how chiral modes establish dynamical nuclear polarization in a quantum Hall ferromagnet.

    • Kaifeng Yang
    • , Katsumi Nagase
    •  & Hongwu Liu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Layered black phosphorous has gained significant attention in the 2D materials community, and dynamical control of its bandgap is key to enable novel applications. Here, the authors demonstrate continuous electrical bandgap tuning using moderate displacement fields.

    • Bingchen Deng
    • , Vy Tran
    •  & Fengnian Xia

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Optical switching of ferromagnets has attracted interest for use in ultrafast spintronics but the physical origin of the effect remains unclear. Here the authors determine the contributions of two proposed mechanisms, the inverse Faraday effect and optical spin-transfer torque.

    • Gyung-Min Choi
    • , André Schleife
    •  & David G. Cahill

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