Structure of solids and liquids articles within Nature Communications

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  • Article
    | Open Access

    Many volatile elements are depleted in the bulk silicate Earth. Here, the authors found that these volatile elements tend to react with Fe under pressure and may be sequestered within Earth’s core by forming substitutional Fe alloys.

    • Yifan Tian
    • , Peiyu Zhang
    •  & Hanyu Liu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The frequency scaling exponent of low-frequency vibrational excitations in glasses remains controversial in the literature. Here, Schirmacher et al. show that the exponent depends on the statistics of the small values of the local stresses, which is governed by the detail of interaction potential.

    • Walter Schirmacher
    • , Matteo Paoluzzi
    •  & Giancarlo Ruocco

  • Article
    | Open Access

    3He behaves like a Fermi liquid but only at very low temperatures. Here the authors re-examine thermal transport data, arguing that the breakdown of the Fermi liquid occurs when the scattering time falls below the Planckian time and suggesting that heat is partially carried by a collective hydrodynamic sound mode.

    • Kamran Behnia
    •  & Kostya Trachenko

  • 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

    Many material properties are governed by the internal dislocation network within the material. Here, the authors describe a method to determine the three dimensional position and type of dislocations from a measurement along only a single direction within a scanning transmission electron microscope.

    • Tore Niermann
    • , Laura Niermann
    •  & Michael Lehmann

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Ultrasmall metallic clusters receive great attention for atom-efficient catalysts. Here a metallic cluster–organic framework is synthesized and characterized; authors demonstrate its stability and catalytic proficiency, paving the way for molecular-scale metal nanoparticle interlocking.

    • Xiyue Liu
    • , James N. McPherson
    •  & Kasper S. Pedersen

  • Article
    | Open Access

    X-ray Free Electron Lasers allow fast structure determination. Here, the authors push the temporal limit of atomic level structure determination to 25 fs, the length of a single pulse, paving the way to the study of fast, non-repeatable processes.

    • Gábor Bortel
    • , Miklós Tegze
    •  & Gyula Faigel

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Superconductivity was recently reported experimentally in nitrogen-doped lutetium hydride with Tc = 294 K at 1 GPa. Here, via theoretical calculations taking into account temperature and quantum anharmonic lattice effects, the authors find that room-temperature superconductivity in the suggested parent phase of LuH3 cannot be explained by a conventional electron-phonon mediated pairing mechanism.

    • Roman Lucrezi
    • , Pedro P. Ferreira
    •  & Christoph Heil

  • Article
    | Open Access

    By combining real and diffraction space data recorded in electron microscopes, ptychography retrieves specimen details with super-resolution. Here, the inverse problem is solved in the presence of thermal diffuse scattering and applied to measure ferroelectric displacements with picometer precision.

    • Benedikt Diederichs
    • , Ziria Herdegen
    •  & Knut Müller-Caspary

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Here authors explore volume diffusion within crystalline solids at the atomic scale. They use high resolution microscopy techniques to provide insights into the movement of individual atoms within a crystal lattice, revealing the intricate dynamics of volume diffusion processes.

    • Peter Schweizer
    • , Amit Sharma
    •  & Xavier Maeder

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Multi-technique synchrotron measurements support the viability of solid FeO-rich structures at Earth’s mantle base. An order-disorder transition identified in the iron defect structure of FeO may lead to unique physical properties in the region.

    • Vasilije V. Dobrosavljevic
    • , Dongzhou Zhang
    •  & Jennifer M. Jackson

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Indirect coordination among individuals through the environment typically requires some basic levels of communication and information processing. Dias et al. introduce a coordination mechanism that emerges in a population of clueless individuals, facilitated by environmental memory, culminating in group formation.

    • Cristóvão S. Dias
    • , Manish Trivedi
    •  & Giorgio Volpe

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Dynamic compression experiments enable material studies in regimes relevant for planetary science, but temperature is difficult to measure in these challenging conditions. Here, the authors report on temperature, density, pressure, and structure of dynamically compressed Cu up to 1 TPa determined from extended x-ray absorption fine structure and velocimetry.

    • H. Sio
    • , A. Krygier
    •  & Y. Ping

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The layered material 1T-TaS2 continues to attract attention due to its many correlated phases and metastable states. Bozin et al. report persistent symmetry-breaking polaronic distortions in the wide range of temperatures, which has implications for understanding the mechanisms of charge and spin ordered states.

    • E. S. Bozin
    • , M. Abeykoon
    •  & D. Mihailovic

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The structure of GeO2 melt has been debated for decades due to several unexplained bands present in the GeO2 melt Raman spectra. Here authors present a promising way to analyse melt structures from Raman spectra and they demonstrate threefold coordinated germanium is formed in the GeO2 melt.

    • Songming Wan
    • , Shujie Zhang
    •  & Jinglin You

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The ζ-N2 phase is key for comprehending the pressure-driven molecular to polymeric shift in nitrogen. Here, the authors resolved the crystal structure of ζ-N2 and identified a gradual delocalization of its electronic density under pressure, culminating in the initiation of nitrogen’s polymerization.

    • Dominique Laniel
    • , Florian Trybel
    •  & Natalia Dubrovinskaia

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Physical realizations of time crystals, non-equilibrium many-body systems with broken time-translation symmetry, typically require periodic driving. Here the authors demonstrate a time crystal without external periodic drive in a collection of erbium atoms under a continuous laser excitation.

    • Yu-Hui Chen
    •  & Xiangdong Zhang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Radiolysis is known for damaging crystals. Here, using STEM, researchers observed radiolysis-driven bond-breakage, atomic movements, & crystal restructuring in rutile TiO2, and proposed a “2-step rolling” model of building blocks. These results open possibilities for constructive use of radiolysis.

    • Silu Guo
    • , Hwanhui Yun
    •  & K. Andre Mkhoyan

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Understanding liquid behavior is a challenge due to their disorder nature and rapid molecular rearrangements. Here, the authors show how weak interactions between OH groups and aromatic rings can participate in cooperative mechanisms that give rise to highly structured molecular arrangements in the liquid state.

    • Camilla Di Mino
    • , Andrew G. Seel
    •  & Neal T. Skipper

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Superconductivity was recently reported experimentally in nitrogen-doped lutetium hydride with Tc = 294 K at a pressure of 1 GPa. Here, via theoretical calculations, the authors find no structures capable of supporting conventional superconductivity in the Lu-N-H system at ambient pressure.

    • Pedro P. Ferreira
    • , Lewis J. Conway
    •  & Lilia Boeri

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The behaviour of ions solvated in water is highly ion-specific. Introducing a length scale that captures the interplay between ion-water and inter-water interactions, along with considering the bond-orientational order of the hydration shell, provides an explanation for the ion-specific effects observed in salt solutions.

    • Rui Shi
    • , Anthony J. Cooper
    •  & Hajime Tanaka

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Understanding glass transition would rely on the knowledge of the structural ordering upon slow cooling in the absence of crystallization or phase separation. The authors identify exotic compositional order, not accompanied by any thermodynamic signature, directly impacts the structural relaxation dynamics.

    • Hua Tong
    •  & Hajime Tanaka

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Hidden local order in disordered crystals is shown to have a strong impact on electronic and phononic band structures. Local correlations within hidden-order states can open band gaps, thereby changing properties without long-range symmetry breaking.

    • Nikolaj Roth
    •  & Andrew L. Goodwin

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Moisture sorption is a common occurrence in polyelectrolyte systems, but not yet fully understood. Here the authors, combining thermogravimetric analysis, vibrational spectroscopy, molecular force field and quantum chemical computations, provide insights into the binding of water in monovalent conjugated polyelectrolytes, establishing a model of the surface hydration of the ion clusters.

    • Cindy Guanyu Tang
    • , Mazlan Nur Syafiqah
    •  & Peter K. H. Ho

  • Comment
    | Open Access

    Identifying topological defects in disordered materials has a profound effect on predicting when and where the material will break. Matteo Baggioli comments a recent publication in Nature Communications, which confirms the existence of defects in glasses and their crucial role for plasticity.

    • Matteo Baggioli

  • Article
    | Open Access

    It remains challenging to understand the relation between mechanical properties of glasses close to the yielding point and plastic behaviors at microscales. Wu et al. examine the plasticity using topological properties of the vibrational modes and identify a correlation between defects and plastic events.

    • Zhen Wei Wu
    • , Yixiao Chen
    •  & Limei Xu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Recent experiments reveal undetermined crystalline phases near the melting minimum region in lithium. Here, the authors use a crystal structure search method combined with machine learning to explore the energy landscape of lithium and predict complex crystal structures.

    • Xiaoyang Wang
    • , Zhenyu Wang
    •  & Yanming Ma

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The compositional space of potential high-entropy alloys is gigantic and difficult to explore efficiently. Here, the authors use high-throughput first-principles computations to predict what elements can mix to form high-entropy alloys, understanding of the factors favoring their formation.

    • Wei Chen
    • , Antoine Hilhorst
    •  & Geoffroy Hautier

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Chemical order/disorder in materials can be difficult to determine for atoms with similar X-ray scattering factors and neutron scattering lengths. Here authors use resonant XRD and NMR to elucidate hidden Mo/Nb chemical order in disordered hexagonal perovskite Ba7Nb4MoO20, with Mo atoms found to be localized near the ion-conducting oxygen deficient layer.

    • Yuta Yasui
    • , Masataka Tansho
    •  & Masatomo Yashima

  • Article
    | Open Access

    No experimental observations have been reported to clarify how a melting transition proceeds inside a crystal. Here the authors demonstrate that melting is initiated at two-dimensional faults inside BaCeO3 crystals below the melting temperature in a layer-by-layer manner.

    • Hye-Sung Kim
    • , Ji-Sang An
    •  & Sung-Yoon Chung

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The role of stoichiometric defects in the superconducting polyhydride LaH10±δ has received little attention so far. Here, the authors use molecular-dynamics simulations to show that a small amount of stoichiometric defects will cause quantum proton diffusion in the otherwise rigid lanthanum lattice.

    • Hui Wang
    • , Pascal T. Salzbrenner
    •  & Yansun Yao

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Colloidal particles bonding via attractive patches mimic the bonding of atoms in atomic compounds and materials. By assembling patchy particles into the graphene lattice, the authors obtain insight into lattice defects in this important 2D material.

    • Piet J. M. Swinkels
    • , Zhe Gong
    •  & Peter Schall

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The atomic pathway in the photoinduced ultrafast structural phase transition of VO2 has been a controversial problem for a long time. Here the authors, using MeV ultrafast electron diffraction, show that the melting of V-V dimers and the transformation of crystal symmetry are two processes with different timescales.

    • Chenhang Xu
    • , Cheng Jin
    •  & Dong Qian

  • Article
    | Open Access

    As lamellar materials, smectics exhibit both liquid and solid characteristics, making them difficult to model at the mesoscale. Paget et al. propose a complex tensor order parameter that reflects the smectic symmetries, capable of describing complex defects including dislocations and disclinations.

    • Jack Paget
    • , Marco G. Mazza
    •  & Tyler N. Shendruk

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Biomolecular condensates with internal structure allow cells to further organise their processes. In this work the authors investigate how condensates can obtain an internal structure with droplets of dilute phase inside via kinetic, rather than purely thermodynamic driving forces.

    • Nadia A. Erkamp
    • , Tomas Sneideris
    •  & Tuomas P. J. Knowles

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The mechanism governing structural relaxation in metallic glasses remains elusive, hampering their stability and engineering applications. Here, the authors reveal a distinct relaxation mechanism with a stretching exponent of 3/7, providing new insight for understanding the nature of glass.

    • Yi-Tao Sun
    • , Rui Zhao
    •  & Wei-Hua Wang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The ‘boson peak’ refers to an extra peak in the terahertz vibrational spectrum of glasses. It is now shown that for liquids of highly symmetric molecules the boson peak can be singled out by means of depolarized Raman scattering; the peak is linked to the formation of clusters of about 20 molecules.

    • Mario González-Jiménez
    • , Trent Barnard
    •  & Klaas Wynne

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Fragility describes the sharpness of dynamical arrest of a melt at its glass transition, yet its structural origin remains elusive. Shi et al. show that fragility inversely correlates with the medium-range order structure characterized by a measurable parameter named the average medium-range distance.

    • Ying Shi
    • , Binghui Deng
    •  & Douglas C. Allan

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