Soft materials articles within Nature Materials

Featured

  • Research Briefing |

    Soft pressure sensors drift under prolonged high stress because of the creep of soft materials, which causes inaccurate measurements. Now, through molecular-level design, a leakage-free and creep-free polyelectrolyte elastomer is synthesized, and an iontronic sensor using the polyelectrolyte elastomer shows very low signal drift under a high static pressure.

  • News & Views |

    Pentagonal polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS)-based giant atoms self-assemble into Frank–Kasper phases that have not been previously observed in soft-matter systems.

    • Pengyu Chen
    •  & Kevin D. Dorfman

  • Article |

    Lack of local phase patterning in liquid crystal elastomers has hindered their broad implementation. The authors report a laser-induced dynamic crosslinking approach with allyl sulfide groups to achieve reconfigurable high-resolution patterning of multiple liquid crystalline phases in a single film.

    • Seok Hwan Choi
    • , Ju Hee Kim
    •  & Seung Hwan Ko

  • Article |

    Conventional iontronic pressure sensors suffer from signal drift and inaccuracy owing to creep of soft materials and ion leakage. Here the authors report a leakage-free and creep-free polyelectrolyte-elastomer-based iontronic sensor that achieves a drift rate two to three orders of magnitude lower than those of conventional iontronic sensors.

    • Yunfeng He
    • , Yu Cheng
    •  & Chuan Fei Guo

  • Article |

    Solvation dynamics at picosecond timescales critically affect charge transport in aqueous systems, but conflicting values have been reported for organic electrolytes. Lifetimes on the order of 1 ns for mixtures of organic polymer and lithium salt exhibiting ultraslow dynamics of solvation shell break-up are now reported.

    • Neel J. Shah
    • , Chao Fang
    •  & Nitash P. Balsara

  • Article |

    Understanding mesoscale structure and dynamics in organic mixed ionic–electronic conductors is crucial. Mesoscale strain kinetics and structural hysteresis have been studied, and they uncover the coupling between charge carrier dynamics and mesoscale order in organic mixed ionic–electronic conductors.

    • Ruiheng Wu
    • , Dilara Meli
    •  & Christopher J. Takacs

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Active and stable catalysts to accelerate the transition from fossil fuel to renewable feedstocks, reduce energy consumption and minimize environmental footprints are needed. Electrocatalysts based on copper nanocrystals encapsulated in hybrid alumina shells stable against structural reconstruction during CO2 electroreduction are reported.

    • Petru P. Albertini
    • , Mark A. Newton
    •  & Raffaella Buonsanti

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Light-induced artificial goosebumps on liquid crystal elastomer skin are used to precisely manipulate passive microstructures, achieving a localized and controllable system for programmable micromachines.

    • Mingchao Zhang
    • , Aniket Pal
    •  & Metin Sitti

  • News & Views |

    Considering responsive materials as transient collective assemblies rather than individual shape-changing objects allows for emergent functionalities that cannot be derived from the properties of single objects but are driven by interactions between them.

    • Arri Priimagi

  • News & Views |

    Early detection of electrical degradation can be identified by colour change due to the chromogenic response of blended molecules in dielectric polymers.

    • Gregory A. Sotzing
    •  & Pritish S. Aklujkar

  • Article |

    Soft building blocks tend to be near spherical, limiting their packing structures to those found in metallic systems. Here the authors report the spontaneous generation of highly deformed mesoatoms using molecular pentagons and observe Frank–Kasper phases not found in metal alloys.

    • Xian-You Liu
    • , Xiao-Yun Yan
    •  & Stephen Z. D. Cheng

  • Article |

    Biological tissues are extremely water rich but remain mechanically stiff, behaviour that is difficult to recapitulate in synthetic materials. Here the authors design a hydrogel/sponge hybrid material driven by a self-organized network of cyano-p-aramid nanofibres that combines these properties for biofunctional materials.

    • Minkyung Lee
    • , Hojung Kwak
    •  & Dongyeop X. Oh

  • Article |

    Autonomous assembly, reconfiguration and disassembly are observed in living aggregates, but are difficult to replicate in synthetic soft matter. Here mechanically interlocked responsive ribbons form transient viscoelastic solids for the on-demand assembly of functional materials.

    • Mustafa K. Abdelrahman
    • , Robert J. Wagner
    •  & Taylor H. Ware

  • Feature |

    Kinetic trapping in supramolecular gels leads to varied morphologies and macroscopic properties. Emily R. Draper and Dave J. Adams discuss subtle experimental effects that can lead to reproducibility issues in these systems.

    • Emily R. Draper
    •  & Dave J. Adams

  • News & Views |

    Incorporating additives that contain hydrogen-bonding nanochannels creates nanoconfined polymer gels that are highly stretchable, elastic and insensitive to notch propagation.

    • Meixiang Wang
    •  & Michael D. Dickey

  • News & Views |

    Processible centimetre-scale porous glasses using zeolitic imidazolate framework (ZIF) materials are developed, while fine-tuning of the processing conditions allows control of pore size and molecular sieving properties.

    • Georgia R. F. Orton
    •  & Neil R. Champness

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Porosity of zeolitic imidazolate frameworks can be preserved beyond glass transition and melt processing. Here centimetre-scale porous glasses are demonstrated, whereas liquid processing enables fine-tuning of the size of the gas-transporting channels for molecular sieving.

    • Oksana Smirnova
    • , Seungtaik Hwang
    •  & Alexander Knebel

  • Article |

    Early detection of electrical degradation in dielectric polymers is crucial but remains challenging. A general strategy of blending the polymer with chromogenic molecules is reported, which generates a visually discernible colour change as chemically activated by oxygen radicals generated in situ, indicating the early stage of electrical degradation in polymers.

    • Xiaoyan Huang
    • , Shuai Zhang
    •  & Jinliang He

  • News & Views |

    An approach to analyse the deformation behaviour of polymer networks provides an enhanced set of structural information, improving our understanding of the elasticity of soft materials.

    • Michael Lang

  • Article |

    Production of bulk bicontinuous materials is limited by the ability to make uniform microarchitectures across large volumes. Here elastic microphase separation is used to fabricate bicontinuous materials with a homogeneous microstructure, with feature sizes tuned by the matrix stiffness.

    • Carla Fernández-Rico
    • , Sanjay Schreiber
    •  & Eric R. Dufresne

  • Article |

    Simultaneously highly elastic and deformable gels that maintain their mechanical properties have remained elusive. Here, using in situ polymerization confined within nanochannels, the authors prepare hysteresis-free gels insensitive to crack propagation.

    • Weizheng Li
    • , Xiaoliang Wang
    •  & Feng Yan

  • Article |

    The process of protein crystallization is poorly understood and difficult to program through the primary sequence. Here the authors develop a computational approach to designing three-dimensional protein crystals with prespecified lattice architectures with high accuracy.

    • Zhe Li
    • , Shunzhi Wang
    •  & David Baker

  • Article |

    Extracting information about polymer network topology from mechanical properties alone remains challenging. Here the authors develop a forensic approach to quantify network structural information by analysing their nonlinear mechanics.

    • Andrey V. Dobrynin
    • , Yuan Tian
    •  & Sergei S. Sheiko

  • Article |

    The rational design of out-of-equilibrium demixing transitions remains challenging. Active fluids are used to control the liquid–liquid phase separation of passive DNA nanostars and establish the activity-based control of the phase diagram.

    • Alexandra M. Tayar
    • , Fernando Caballero
    •  & Zvonimir Dogic

  • Article |

    Hydrogels are promising materials but are often limited by inadequate mechanical properties and time-consuming fabrication processes. Here the authors demonstrate a rapid biomimetic interfacial-bonding nanocomposite strategy for ultra-tough hydrogels with high tensile strength.

    • Bingkun Bao
    • , Qingmei Zeng
    •  & Linyong Zhu

  • Article |

    Solid-state pressure sensors have performance limitations in liquid environments. Here, the authors design a pressure sensor using solid–liquid–liquid–gas multiphasic interfaces where a trapped air layer modulates capacitance changes with pressure to achieve near-friction-free contact line motions for near-ideal pressure sensing.

    • Wen Cheng
    • , Xinyu Wang
    •  & Benjamin C. K. Tee

  • News & Views |

    Photochromic molecular crystal arrays aligned in the micropores of a polymer membrane show high-performance actuation when stimulated by light. These soft composites might find applications in soft robotic devices.

    • Albert P. H. J. Schenning

  • Article |

    Photomechanical crystals are promising materials for converting photon energy into macroscopic work via reversible structural changes when exposed to light. Here the authors demonstrate highly ordered and compliant microcrystalline composites with a photomechanical performance exceeding that of single crystals.

    • Wenwen Xu
    • , David M. Sanchez
    •  & Ryan C. Hayward

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Extrinsic impurities may trap electrons or holes leading to imbalanced charge transport in wide band gap organic semiconductors. Here the authors propose a bottom-up design strategy by spatially separating HOMO and LUMO orbitals to avoid charge trapping, enhancing charge transport by orders of magnitude.

    • Oskar Sachnik
    • , Xiao Tan
    •  & Paul W. M. Blom

  • News & Views |

    A bicontinuous conducting polymer hydrogel with high electrical conductivity, stretchability and fracture toughness in physiological environments achieves high-fidelity monitoring and effective stimulation of tissues and organs.

    • Youdi Liu
    • , Faheem Ershad
    •  & Cunjiang Yu

  • Article |

    Piezoelectric actuators play a critical role in precision positioning devices; however, materials with high actuation strain and mechanical energy density are rare. Here a composite of poly(vinylidene fluoride) and TiO2 demonstrates superior performance in these metrics, with the ferroelectric transition driven by Joule heating.

    • Yang Liu
    • , Yao Zhou
    •  & Qing Wang

  • Article |

    Understanding charge-compensating interactions and ionic dynamics in organic mixed conductors can be challenging. Operando NMR spectroscopy is now used to quantify cation and water movement during doping/dedoping in mixed conductor films.

    • Dongxun Lyu
    • , Yanting Jin
    •  & Clare P. Grey

  • Research Briefing |

    Three-dimensional printing of hydrogels loaded with fungal mycelium can produce living materials with unique adaptive properties in shapes that are relevant for engineering applications. The metabolic activity of the living mycelial network allows the printed structure to grow autonomously and self-regenerate when it is provided with nutrients in water.

  • Article |

    A discovery-oriented synthesis and characterization platform uses interchangeable polymer components to explore a large and complex parameter space to find possible combinations of components that satisfy the design rules at multiple nanolithography patterns dimensions.

    • Hongbo Feng
    • , Moshe Dolejsi
    •  & Paul F. Nealey

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