Surfaces, interfaces and thin films articles within Nature Communications

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  • Article
    | Open Access

    The authors study transport in the superconducting state of infinite-layer nickelate Nd0.8Sr0.2NiO2 films using a Corbino-disk configuration, finding that the magnetoresistance changes from isotropic to four-fold anisotropic with increasing magnetic field. At even higher field, an additional two-fold component emerges, which coincides with an anomalous upturn of the critical field.

    • Haoran Ji
    • , Yi Liu
    •  & Jian Wang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The authors study (Bi,Sb)2Te3/FeTe bilayers, which feature emergent superconductivity at the interface with Tc ~ 12 K. Through angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy and electrical transport measurements, they argue that the Dirac-fermion-mediated Ruderman-Kittel-Kasuya-Yosida-type interaction weakens antiferromagnetic order in FeTe layer, allowing for superconductivity.

    • Hemian Yi
    • , Lun-Hui Hu
    •  & Cui-Zu Chang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The authors deposit non-superconducting metallic thin films on surfaces of the kagome Chern magnet TbMn6Sn6 and observe emergent superconductivity even though neither component is a superconductor. Furthermore, the superconducting state is quasi-two-dimensional and coexists with ferromagnetism, consistent with possible spin-triplet pairing and topological superconductivity.

    • He Wang
    • , Yanzhao Liu
    •  & Jian Wang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Weyl semimetals exhibit a rich variety of transport phenomena, but it usually takes low temperatures and a strong magnetic field to realize them. Here, Quirk et al. show that when the ferromagnetic Weyl semimetal Co2MnGa is polished to micron thicknesses, it develops a remarkable resistance anisotropy that has opposite directions on opposing crystal faces. They show that this unusual transport property, which is robust at room temperature and in a strong magnetic field, may be generated by distinct conducting states on the surfaces of these thin crystals.

    • Nicholas P. Quirk
    • , Guangming Cheng
    •  & N. P. Ong

  • Article
    | Open Access

    In this work, authors demonstrate a fast and versatile microprinting technique to produce high-performance and customizable piezoelectric elements by employing a conductive spiny disc to electrostatically trigger instability to the liquid-air interface of the ink.

    • Xuemu Li
    • , Zhuomin Zhang
    •  & Zhengbao Yang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    A critical step to enable practical structural superlubricity (SSL) applications is to enable high throughput to both fabrication and performance evaluation. Here, the authors demonstrate an automated system for efficient and multiple SSL materials transfer and tribological measurement.

    • Li Chen
    • , Cong Lin
    •  & Ming Ma

  • Article
    | Open Access

    2D materials with Kagome lattices have attracted significant interest due to their exotic electronic properties. Here, the authors report the synthesis and characterization of a 2D MoTe2 phase characterized by a colouring-triangular lattice (a Kagome variant), showing evidence of Dirac-like and flat electronic bands.

    • Le Lei
    • , Jiaqi Dai
    •  & Wei Ji

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The Kagome lattice consists of equilateral triangles occupying each edge of a hexagon, resembling a star with six-fold rotation symmetry. Here, using scanning tunnelling microscopy, Zhang et al observe the breaking of this six-fold rotation symmetry in the Kagome lattice plane of the planar antiferromagnet, FeSn.

    • Huimin Zhang
    • , Basu Dev Oli
    •  & Lian Li

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The nanoparticle-polymer interface plays a key role in nanoparticle-polymer composites but understanding the structures and properties of the interfacial region remains challenging. Here, the authors directly observe the presence of two interfacial polymer layers around a nanoparticle in polar polymers with different polar molecular conformations from the bulk polymer leading to an enhancement in polarity-related properties of polymer nanocomposites

    • Xinhui Li
    • , Shan He
    •  & Ce-Wen Nan

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Recent work has reported puzzling results on the surface of 1T-TaS2. Based on first-principles calculations, the authors show that charge density wave order undergoes surface reconstruction, leading to modifications in the surface electronic structure, which can explain recent experiments.

    • Sung-Hoon Lee
    •  & Doohee Cho

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Here, the authors theoretically predict the formation of synergistic correlated and topological states in Coulomb-coupled and gate-tunable graphene/insulator heterostructures, proposing a number of promising substrate candidates and a possible explanation for recent experimental observations in graphene/CrOCl heterostructures.

    • Xin Lu
    • , Shihao Zhang
    •  & Jianpeng Liu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Over the last few years, several van der Waals materials have been found that retain magnetic ordering down to monolayer thickness. These materials provide a simple platform for studying the magnetism in reduced dimensions. Here, Zhong et al study the thickness dependence of magnetic ordering in Cr2Te3, and find a crossover from Stoner to Heisenberg-type magnetism as thicknesses are reduced.

    • Yong Zhong
    • , Cheng Peng
    •  & Zhi-Xun Shen

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The authors study a Pt/Nb hybrid structure by scanning microscopy and muon spin rotation. They find an anomalous absence of Meissner screening near the Pt/Nb interface due to spin-triplet pair correlations driven by spin-orbit coupling alone with no ferromagnetic layer necessary.

    • Machiel Flokstra
    • , Rhea Stewart
    •  & Stephen Lee

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Here, the authors investigate the interfacial charge/energy transfer dynamics in a WSe2/graphene heterostructure. They unveil an energy transfer mechanism from WSe2 to graphene mediated by an interfacial Meitner-Auger process, resulting in a transient hole distribution in the Dirac cone at energies larger than the photon energy of the optical excitation.

    • Shuo Dong
    • , Samuel Beaulieu
    •  & Ralph Ernstorfer

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Resonant charge transport to and from molecules and their corresponding charge-state transitions are critical to understanding electrically driven processes. Here, the authors investigate the charge-state lifetimes of single molecules through NaCl films of 3 to 5 monolayers thickness.

    • Katharina Kaiser
    • , Leonard-Alexander Lieske
    •  & Leo Gross

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Weak topological insulators offer promising topological state tunability for devices. Here, the authors use ARPES and first-principles calculations to evidence signatures of layer-selective quantum spin Hall channels that may be tunable with chemical potential for future applications.

    • Jingyuan Zhong
    • , Ming Yang
    •  & Yi Du

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Ferromagnetic insulators offer low magnetic damping, and potentially efficient magnetic switching, making them ideal candidates for spin-based information processing. Here, Zheng et al introduce a ferromagnetic insulator spinel, Li0.5Al1.0Fe1.5O4, with low magnetic damping, perpendicular magnetic anisotropy, and no magnetic dead layer.

    • Xin Yu Zheng
    • , Sanyum Channa
    •  & Yuri Suzuki

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Sliding of drops over solid surface is a common phenomenon, but it remains impossible to predict the sliding velocity due to numerous dissipation channels causing drop friction. Li et al. show that dynamic wetting is determined by a dimensionless friction coefficient, which is a material parameter.

    • Xiaomei Li
    • , Francisco Bodziony
    •  & Hans-Jürgen Butt

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Controlling the magnetization of a material is a major goal of spin-based information processing. One extensively studied method is to use spin-currents, generated from charge currents via the spin hall effect, however, the resulting spin polarization is typically limited to in-plane orientations. Here, Hazra et al demonstrate the presence of out-of-plane polarized spin-currents, which arise due to spin swapping at the Mn3Sn/permalloy interface.

    • Binoy K. Hazra
    • , Banabir Pal
    •  & Stuart S. P. Parkin

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Single-particle band theory is facing limitations in describing the physics of ultrathin topological insulator films. Here, the authors investigate the coupling between top and bottom surfaces of a topological insulator and analyse their interaction in the framework of screened Coulomb interactions.

    • Jia-nan Liu
    • , Xu Yang
    •  & Zhao-Hua Cheng

  • Article
    | Open Access

    ‘Solitary waves are unique in nonlinear systems. Here, the authors report on an anomalous, solitary wave-like blister (SWLB) of MoS2 thin films, which propagates forward like solitary waves appearing in fluids. The SWLB results from fluid structure interaction due to an interfacial water nanolayer.’

    • Enze Wang
    • , Zixin Xiong
    •  & Kai Liu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Topological structures could spark promising functionalities in next generation nanoelectronics. Here, the authors report the realization of complex topological polar textures in epitaxial multiferroic BiFeO3 –SrTiO3 superlattices induced by competing electrical and mechanical boundary conditions.

    • Vivasha Govinden
    • , Peiran Tong
    •  & Daniel Sando

  • Article
    | Open Access

    ’Layer-by-layer (LbL) assembly is currently one of the most widely used techniques for the fabrication of multicomponent architectures with nanometer scale control but achieving control over the 3D structure, and thus the ability to predict and understand the device performance, is challenging. Here, the authors use neutron scattering to determine the average conformation of individual deuterated polyelectrolyte chains inside LbL assembled films.

    • Philipp Gutfreund
    • , Christophe Higy
    •  & Gero Decher

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The Debye interaction is defined as the attraction between a polar molecule and a nonpolar molecule, which governs many self-assembling processes in materials. Here, Lee et al. design a like-charged colloidal model at the water-oil interface to characterize the Debye interaction for the first time.

    • Hyang Mi Lee
    • , Yong Woo Kim
    •  & Bum Jun Park

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Herein, using scanning tunnelling microscopy, the authors create single polarons in a monolayer two-dimensional semiconductor, CoCl2. They show that a series of manipulation progresses — from creation, erasure, to transition — can be accurately implemented on individual polarons.

    • Huiru Liu
    • , Aolei Wang
    •  & Kehui Wu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Hund’s coupling, or the intra-atomic exchange, can drive novel quantum phases in multi-orbital systems, but this requires precise control of orbital occupancy. Ko et al. report an orbital-selective metal-to-insulator transition driven by Hund´s physics via symmetry-preserving strain tuning in monolayer SrRuO3.

    • Eun Kyo Ko
    • , Sungsoo Hahn
    •  & Tae Won Noh

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Interplay between structure and composition of grain boundaries remains elusive, particularly at the atomic level. Here, the authors discover the atomic motifs, which is the smallest structural unit, control the most important chemical properties of grain boundaries.

    • Xuyang Zhou
    • , Ali Ahmadian
    •  & Dierk Raabe

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Removing excess energy (cooling) and reducing noise in superconducting quantum circuits is central to improved coherence. Lucas et al. demonstrate cooling of a superconducting resonator and its noisy environment to sub-mK temperatures by immersion in liquid 3He.

    • M. Lucas
    • , A. V. Danilov
    •  & S. E. de Graaf

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Chromium tellurides are a particularly promising family of quasi-2D magnetic materials; towards the single van der Waals layer limit, they preserve magnetic ordering, some even above room temperature, and exhibit a variety of intrinsic topological properties. Here, Hang Chi, Yunbo Ou and co-authors demonstrate a strain tunable Berry curvature induced reversal of the anomalous Hall effect in Cr2Te3.

    • Hang Chi
    • , Yunbo Ou
    •  & Jagadeesh S. Moodera

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Superconducting interfaces involving KTaO3 have recently attracted attention due to their relatively high transition temperature. Here, the authors study amorphous-YAlO3/KTaO3 interfaces and find two-fold symmetry in the superconducting regime, possibly due to a mixed-parity superconducting state.

    • Guanqun Zhang
    • , Lijie Wang
    •  & Wei Li

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Designing efficient photonic neuromorphic systems remains a challenge. Here, the authors develop a new class of memristor sensitive to the dual electro-optical history obtained by exploiting electrochemical, photovoltaic and photo-assisted oxygen ion motion effects at a high temperature superconductor / semiconductor interface.

    • Ralph El Hage
    • , Vincent Humbert
    •  & Javier E. Villegas

  • Article
    | Open Access

    In solid-state lithium metal batteries, the crystallization of Li-ions deposited at interfaces remains unclear. Here, authors use molecular dynamics simulations to reveal lithium crystallization pathways and energy barriers, guiding improved interfacial engineering and accelerated crystal growth.

    • Menghao Yang
    • , Yunsheng Liu
    •  & Yifei Mo

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The authors observe spectroscopic signature of obstructed surface states on the (0001) plane of SrIn2P2. Due to structural reconstruction, the surface state undergoes an adiabatic evolution and split into two branches, the upper of which being spatially localized with unusual negative differential conductance.

    • Xiang-Rui Liu
    • , Hanbin Deng
    •  & Chang Liu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Here, the authors probe the phonon changes across an atomically sharp h-10BN/h-11BN isotope interface with sub-unit-cell spatial resolution and momentum resolution. The observed phonon delocalization suggests strong electron-phonon coupling at isotopic interface.

    • Ning Li
    • , Ruochen Shi
    •  & Peng Gao

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Classical hydrodynamics applies to electron fluids as well, provided the system has a high electron–electron collision rate. Now, model calculations show that regimes in which other scattering processes are at play can explain hydrodynamic electron transport in thin flakes of the 2D material WTe2.

    • Yotam Wolf
    • , Amit Aharon-Steinberg
    •  & Tobias Holder

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