Soft materials articles within Nature Communications

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  • Article
    | Open Access

    Soft composite solids are building blocks for many functional and biological materials, yet it remains challenging to predict their mechanical properties. Zhao et al. propose a criticality framework to connect the mechanics to the critical behaviour near the shear-jamming transition of the dispersed inclusions.

    • Yiqiu Zhao
    • , Haitao Hu
    •  & Qin Xu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    It has been demonstrated theoretically earlier that a dense phase made of repulsive active particles, in phase-separating regime, exhibit wetting-like behaviors: wall-meniscus or capillary rise in channels. Here authors experimentally investigate a non-phase separating assembly of active colloids under gravity and show that a wetting-like phenomenology persists against a vertical wall, and they evidence a counter-gravity wall climbing.

    • Adérito Fins Carreira
    • , Adam Wysocki
    •  & Cécile Cottin-Bizonne

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Organic afterglow materials have potential in self-monitoring applications but it is challenging to design materials with desired properties. Here, the authors report the development of a lifetime tunable organic afterglow system for use in mechanical self-monitoring 3D printed structures.

    • Rongjuan Huang
    • , Yunfei He
    •  & Wei Huang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    3D printing has potential in designing personalised scaffolds, but minimally invasive implantation is still challenging. Here, the authors report the development of a polyurethane material with temperature triggered shape memory and water triggered deformation that allows for transcatheter delivery.

    • Bo Liu
    • , Hui Li
    •  & Xiaoli Zhao

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Smart sensors are important components in the development of touchless human-machine interaction systems. Here, the authors describe a smart 3D porous crystalline organic cage-based system that exhibits remarkable responsiveness to fingertip humidity, contributing to the advancement of touchless human-machine interaction technology.

    • Jinrong Wang
    • , Weibin Lin
    •  & Niveen M. Khashab

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Extracting rare earth elements (REEs) from wastewater is essential for the growth of an eco-friendly sustainable economy but separating individual rare earth elements remains challenging. Here, the authors report a REE nanotrap that features dense uncoordinated carboxyl groups and triazole N atoms in a two-fold interpenetrated metalorganic framework which is highly responsive to the size variation of rareearth ions.

    • Qing-Hua Hu
    • , An-Min Song
    •  & Jian-Ding Qiu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Relating the degree of network crosslinking as a descriptor to the desalination performance of crosslinked polymer membranes remains challenging. Here, the authors introduce a parameter based on distinct amide bonds per unit mass of polyamide, to unravel the relationship between the crosslinked networks of polyamide membranes and their desalination performance.

    • Yu-Ren Xue
    • , Chang Liu
    •  & Zhi-Kang Xu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Mechanoelectric energy conversion is a potential solution for the power supply of soft devices, but the low current output for low frequency motions limits its applicability. Here, the authors report a hydrogel generator with mechanoionic current generation amplified by orders of magnitudes and its application as controlled drug-releasing system for wound healing.

    • Hongzhen Liu
    • , Xianglin Ji
    •  & Lizhi Xu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Photoelectrodes made of earth-abundant materials can contribute to low-cost and carbon-free hydrogen production, but suffer from a short lifetime. Here the authors report cryogel overlayer to increase the operation time of the device by regulating evolving hydrogen bubble dynamics.

    • Byungjun Kang
    • , Jeiwan Tan
    •  & Hyungsuk Lee

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Inspired by the swift swingable abdomen, conducting canals, and body setae of Stenus comma, the authors present a swift, agile untethered insect-scale soft propulsor, offering new insights into systematically bio-inspired artificial soft robots.

    • Xingxing Ke
    • , Haochen Yong
    •  & Zhigang Wu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Although several advances have been made in chemical Polyethylene (PE) re- and upcycling, energy-efficient and selective catalytic processes are still lacking. Here, the authors show coupling of an industrially relevant coordination copolymerization olefins with a functionalized chain-transfer agent, followed by modular assembly of the resulting telechelic polyolefin building blocks by polycondensation to afford ester-linked PE-based random and block copolymers which exhibit full chemical circularity.

    • Xing-Wang Han
    • , Xun Zhang
    •  & Yong Tang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Power-law scaling of low-frequency vibrational density of states is widely observed in glassy materials, yet the value of scaling exponents remains controversial. Here, Xu et al. identify two scaling exponents by separating stable from unstable glass to reconcile the debate in the literature.

    • Ding Xu
    • , Shiyun Zhang
    •  & Ning Xu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The role of polymers in stabilizing liquid crystal (LC)-water interfaces is well studied but how the LC affects stabilizers is not fully explored yet. Here, Ma et al. show that amphiphilic polymers change their behavior when the LC is heated towards its transition to the isotropic state, and propose that this is due to an entropic repulsion active at low temperatures where the orientationally ordered LC restricts the mobility of the flexible polymer chains.

    • Xu Ma
    • , Yucen Han
    •  & Jan P. F. Lagerwall

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Injectable pro-regenerative biomaterials are vital for developing minimally invasive regenerative treatment, but impeded by brittleness and lack of biological functions. Here the authors address these issues by engineering injectable functionalized composites that facilitate the sequential release of IL-4 and IGF-1 to regulate macrophages and stem cell behavior for enhanced in situ regeneration.

    • Yi Li
    • , Siyang Liu
    •  & Meifeng Zhu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Obtaining high-temperature phosphorescence in organic materials can potentially lead to broader applications, but can be challenging to achieve. Here, the authors report the use of rigid molecules as both host and guest to give temperature resistance and therefore high-temperature phosphorescence.

    • Kaijun Chen
    • , Yongfeng Zhang
    •  & Xiang Ma

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The development of heterogeneous photocatalysts applicable under harsh conditions is challenging. Here the authors report the conversion of imine linkages into quinoline groups in triphenylamine incorporated photosensitive covalent organic frameworks to develop robust heterogeneous photocatalysts for photocatalytic applications in harsh conditions.

    • Jia-Rui Wang
    • , Kepeng Song
    •  & Yanli Zhao

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The development of effective adsorbents of radioiodine nuclear waste remains difficult due to the lack of proper material design strategies. Here the authors report an ultralight hierarchically porous crystalline multifunctional hybrid nanocomposite for ultrafast entrapment of iodine and polyiodide species under both static and dynamic condition.

    • Sahel Fajal
    • , Writakshi Mandal
    •  & Sujit K. Ghosh

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Tissue adhesives have received significant interest for their clinical utility but are typically incompatible with advanced manufacturing methods. Here, the authors introduce a 3D printable tissue adhesive for the fabrication of patches and devices for diverse biomedical applications.

    • Sarah J. Wu
    • , Jingjing Wu
    •  & Xuanhe Zhao

  • Article
    | Open Access

    For an active particle to be able to swim in a low-Reynolds number flow, breaking of time-reversal symmetry and centrosymmetry is required. Typically, this is achieved through asymmetric characteristics of the swimmer. Now, swimming of centrosymmetric pulsating bubbles in an anisotropic fluid is reported.

    • Sung-Jo Kim
    • , Žiga Kos
    •  & Joonwoo Jeong

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Despite the structural significance of boroxines in different classes of materials, their applicability in aqueous media is limited by their hydrolytic instability. Here, the authors discovered a water-stable boroxine structure with excellent pH stability and water-compatible dynamic covalent bonds.

    • Xiaopei Li
    • , Yongjie Zhang
    •  & Guangyan Qing

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Coacervate-based compartments are attractive as potential protocells, but formation and control of the compartments can be challenging. Here, the authors report the spontaneous formation of core-shell, cell-sized coacervate compartments driven by droplet evaporation.

    • Cheng Qi
    • , Xudong Ma
    •  & Zhou Liu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Earlier methods for droplet network stabilization require extremely precise control and manipulation with considerable energy consumption, making them difficult to implement. Here, the authors present 2D interfacial networks, formed by irreversible interfacial interactions between polymer chains dissolved in one liquid and ligands dissolved in a second immiscible liquid at random points along the chains.

    • Shuyi Sun
    • , Shuailong Li
    •  & Shaowei Shi

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The treatment of infected diabetic wounds faces obstacles of bacterial infection, hypoxia, hyperexpression of reactive oxygen species, and inflammation. Here, the authors address these issues by developing a programmed treatment strategy that utilizes live Haematococcus to promote healing of diabetic wounds in a comprehensive manner.

    • Yong Kang
    • , Lingling Xu
    •  & Xiaoyuan Ji

  • Article
    | Open Access

    “Understanding the structure-property relationship of organic molecules which exhibit different properties upon aggregation is important for the field of material science. Here, the authors prepare nonconjugated rhodamine-based molecules without aggregation-induced emission building blocks yet displaying typical aggregation-induced emission behavior.”

    • Lin-Lin Yang
    • , Haoran Wang
    •  & Ben Zhong Tang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Multifunctional composite hydrogels are promising candidates to develop smart and recyclable electronic components. Here, the authors report a reversible on-demand liquefication and solidification conductive gel formed by the self-assembly of photoresponsive host-guest complexes and MXene nanosheets which can be integrated into traditional solid-state circuits.

    • Yu-Liang Lin
    • , Sheng Zheng
    •  & Jiun-Tai Chen

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Ionic skins have potential in long-term physiological monitoring, but do not always achieve a desirable balance of viscosity and elasticity. Here, the authors report a material with hierarchical topological entanglements allowing desirable viscoelastic properties.

    • Huating Ye
    • , Baohu Wu
    •  & Peiyi Wu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The formation of artificial light-harvesting systems with high donor/acceptor ratios for efficient energy transfer remains challenging. Here, the authors describe a polymeric supramolecular column-based light-harvesting system by modular columnar assembly of donor/acceptor chromophores, enabling superior light-harvesting efficiency and dynamic full-color tunable emission.

    • Bin Mu
    • , Xiangnan Hao
    •  & Wei Tian

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The ability of living systems to process signals and information is of vital importance. Inspired by nature, Wang and Cichos show an experimental realization of a physical reservoir computer using self-propelled active microparticles to predict chaotic time series such as the Mackey–Glass and Lorenz series.

    • Xiangzun Wang
    •  & Frank Cichos

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Artificial ion channels have potential in a range of applications, but achieving performance comparable to biological channels has been challenging. Here, the authors report an artificial, light-driven chloride pump, inspired by halorhodopsin, with a helical porphyrin channel array.

    • Chao Li
    • , Yi Zhai
    •  & Lei Jiang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Lightweight flexible piezoelectric polymers are demanded for various applications, but restricted by the low instinctively piezoelectric coefficient and complex poling process. Here, the authors develop a high performance lightweight, flexible self-poled piezoelectric polymer composite towards sustainable self-powered sensing and energy harvesting.

    • Zhao-Xia Huang
    • , Lan-Wei Li
    •  & Jin-Ping Qu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    A wearable biological patch capable of producing multiple responses to light and electricity without interfering with daily activities is desired for skin cancer treatment but remains elusive. Herein, the authors report a skin-mountable and dual-responsive electrothermal patch for melanoma treatment by the co-therapy of photothermal and electrical stimulations.

    • Xingkai Ju
    • , Jiao Kong
    •  & Yongdong Jin

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Currently, the anti-icing performance limitation of superhydrophobic materials is gradually approached without the assistance of an external field. Here, the authors propose a strategy of microdroplet movement manipulation induced by interfacial airflow for further improving the anti-icing performance.

    • Jiawei Jiang
    • , Yizhou Shen
    •  & Haifeng Chen

  • Article
    | Open Access

    It is unclear whether microbes can efficiently degrade biodegradable plastics in the extreme environmental conditions of the seafloor. Here, Omura et al. show that biodegradable plastics can be degraded by the action of microorganisms on the deep-sea floor, although with much less efficiency than in coastal settings.

    • Taku Omura
    • , Noriyuki Isobe
    •  & Tadahisa Iwata

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