Structural materials articles within Nature Materials

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  • Letter |

    The detection of acoustic signals is of relevance for a range of practical applications, for example in medical diagnostics. However, in contrast to the rectification of electric current in diodes, acoustic rectification has not yet been achieved. The first experimental demonstration of an acoustic rectifier therefore promises significant impact for practical applications.

    • B. Liang
    • , X. S. Guo
    •  & J. C. Cheng

  • Letter |

    The improvement of catalysts for the oxygen-reduction reaction is an important challenge for fuel cells and other electrochemical-energy technologies. A composite nanoporous Ni–Pt alloy with a tailored geometric architecture is now shown to exhibit high mass activity for oxygen reduction.

    • J. Snyder
    • , T. Fujita
    •  & J. Erlebacher

  • Letter |

    Bilayer membranes encase several biological entities, for example cells and organelles. Their rupture under mechanical stress usually occurs by a pore-formation mechanism. Now, lipid-bilayer membranes spreading on a solid surface are shown to rupture in a series of rapid avalanches causing fractal membrane fragmentation.

    • Irep Gözen
    • , Paul Dommersnes
    •  & Owe Orwar

  • Letter |

    DNA-functionalized, anisotropic nanostructures, such as triangular nanoprisms and nanorods, are shown to assemble by means of DNA hybridization into colloidal crystal structures. The crystallization parameters of these nanostructures, and hence the dimensionality and symmetry of the resultant superlattice, are strongly influenced by particle shape.

    • Matthew R. Jones
    • , Robert J. Macfarlane
    •  & Chad A. Mirkin

  • News & Views |

    Using a micropatterning technique, the architecture of actin networks is revealed to be influenced by the spatial organization of actin filament nucleation. Considering the geometric boundaries within live cells, implications in the realm of actin-induced cell functions are vast.

    • Denis Wirtz
    •  & Shyam B. Khatau

  • News & Views |

    A new multiscale computational method that is capable of predicting solute strengthening of alloys without adjustable parameters may lead to the development of new engineering materials.

    • Aaron Beaber
    •  & William Gerberich

  • Letter |

    Only few magnetoelectric materials, where magnetism and ferroelectricity are coupled, are known to exist at room temperature, and in most cases the magnetoelectric coupling is weak. The discovery of strong room-temperature magnetoelectric coupling in Sr3Co2Fe24O41 at low magnetic fields is therefore a significant advance towards the practical application of multiferroics.

    • Yutaro Kitagawa
    • , Yuji Hiraoka
    •  & Tsuyoshi Kimura

  • News & Views |

    Aluminium is regarded as a simple system in which to test for phenomena occurring at high pressure. Ab initio calculations now show that this metal undergoes a surprising transition to an incommensurate structure when it is subjected to extremely high pressures.

    • Malcolm I. McMahon
    •  & Graeme J. Ackland

  • News & Views |

    Friction is rarely studied at high sliding speeds between surfaces. However, simulations now suggest that gold clusters on atomically flat graphite can enter a new regime of ballistic friction, featuring a peculiar anticorrelation between translation and rotation.

    • André Schirmeisen

  • Article |

    The mixing of metals to form alloys with enhanced properties has been known at least since the Bronze Age, although being able to predict their properties remains difficult. An analytical model using computational input is now able to quantitatively predict the mechanical properties of metal yield stress in solute-strengthened alloys.

    • Gerard Paul M. Leyson
    • , William A. Curtin
    •  & Christopher F. Woodward

  • Letter |

    The amorphous nature of metallic glasses makes them interesting for structural applications. However, the interplay between the nature of atomic structures and mechanical properties remains poorly understood. Dynamic micropillar tests now show the important contribution of the inelastic deformation of atomistic free-volume zones to the deformation behaviour of metallic glasses.

    • J. C. Ye
    • , J. Lu
    •  & Y. Yang

  • Letter |

    Friction between two surfaces is usually studied at low relative sliding speeds. A molecular dynamics study now explores friction at high speeds, showing the emergence of a ballistic friction regime, qualitatively different from standard drift friction. The findings might have important implications for applications in nanoelectromechanical systems.

    • Roberto Guerra
    • , Ugo Tartaglino
    •  & Erio Tosatti

  • Letter |

    Materials with perpendicular anisotropy receive considerable attention owing to their potential in being employed in efficient memory devices. It is now shown that a type of magnetic tunnel junction widely studied for in-plane magnetic anisotropy has all the properties necessary to realize stable and efficient devices based on perpendicular magnetic anisotropy.

    • S. Ikeda
    • , K. Miura
    •  & H. Ohno

  • Letter |

    What happens to a crystal placed under a huge pressure? In the case of aluminium, it is now shown that the standard, low-pressure close-packed structure transforms into an open one, with incommensurate host–guest arrangement. The findings could have important implications for a wider range of elements.

    • Chris J. Pickard
    •  & R. J. Needs

  • Letter |

    Bulk metallic glasses (BMGs) show good compressive mechanical properties that make them attractive for applications. However, BMGs tend to fail under tensile strain. Through secondary phases these problems can be remedied to some degree. A mechanism is now demonstrated where BMGs show enhanced tensile ductility though the deformation-induced precipitation of nanocrystals.

    • S. Pauly
    • , S. Gorantla
    •  & J. Eckert

  • Letter |

    A biomedical application of a nanoconjugate is now shown in vivo. Sealed carbon nanotubes filled with a radionuclide are functionalized with carbohydrate molecules without prompting cargo release. The stability and biocompatibility of the capsule together with the radioactive payload enables in vivo imaging of the system and delivery of a high-density radiodose.

    • Sung You Hong
    • , Gerard Tobias
    •  & Benjamin G. Davis

  • Letter |

    Solid-state materials showing giant caloric effects near room temperature could provide an alternative to cooling devices based on gas cycles. Strong emphasis has so far been dedicated to caloric effects induced by a magnetic field. It is now demonstrated that a small pressure applied to the compound Ni—Mn–In gives rise to a giant caloric response.

    • Lluís Mañosa
    • , David González-Alonso
    •  & Mehmet Acet

  • News & Views |

    For a Ti alloy single crystal, the stress required for deformation twinning increases dramatically as the size of the crystal decreases, until at submicrometre sizes, deformation occurs solely by dislocation motion.

    • Oliver Kraft

  • News & Views |

    Two deformation mechanisms, involving the cooperative movement of hundreds of atoms, explain the mechanical properties of complex metallic alloys.

    • Jean-Marie Dubois

  • Article |

    Counterintuitively, the exceptional strength of silks comes from β-sheet nanocrystals in which the key molecular interactions are weak hydrogen bonds. Simulations now show that nanoconfinement effects make β-sheet nanocrystals the size of a few nanometres stiffer, stronger and tougher than larger ones. These effects can be exploited to create materials with superior mechanical properties.

    • Sinan Keten
    • , Zhiping Xu
    •  & Markus J. Buehler

  • Article |

    In comparison with the plastic deformation of regular crystalline materials, the mechanisms that govern complex solids with hundreds of atoms in a single unit cell are much less understood. An unusual defect mechanism in complex solids suggests the coordinated movement of hundreds of atoms, a result that improves the understanding of the deformation mechanisms in these types of material.

    • M. Heggen
    • , L. Houben
    •  & M. Feuerbacher

  • Article |

    As a liquid approaches its glass transition its dynamics slow down and simultaneously the material becomes more heterogeneous. A static structural heterogeneity, now shown to be widely present in glass-forming liquids, is suggested to be the origin of this dynamic heterogeneity that links structural parameters to the glass transition.

    • Hajime Tanaka
    • , Takeshi Kawasaki
    •  & Keiji Watanabe

  • Letter |

    The mechanical properties of many materials are different on the nanoscale than they are in the bulk. In the case of metallic glasses, nanometre-scale samples show enhanced ductility. This tensile ductility has now been quantified for samples with diameters down to 100 nm, where a new regime of increased ductility during deformation is observed.

    • Dongchan Jang
    •  & Julia R. Greer

  • Letter |

    In most suspensions viscosity decreases with increasing shear rate. The opposite effect, shear thickening, is a problem for industrial applications. An understanding of how particle interactions in suspensions influence shear thickening may lead to a solution of this problem through the design of smart suspensions.

    • Eric Brown
    • , Nicole A. Forman
    •  & Heinrich M. Jaeger

  • Letter |

    Jamming transitions of disordered systems such as foams, gels and colloidal suspensions, describe the change from a liquid to a solid state. An investigation of the three-dimensional properties of jamming shows how, for example, unjamming occurs simultaneously in all directions even if it is induced in one direction only.

    • G. Ovarlez
    • , Q. Barral
    •  & P. Coussot

  • News & Views |

    Most crystalline materials expand when heated. Now, the packing arrangement of an organic dumbbell-shaped molecule is seen to bring about a large thermal contraction of its crystal lattice.

    • Andrew L. Goodwin

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