Techniques and instrumentation articles within Nature Communications

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  • Article
    | Open Access

    Mapping the distribution of fluorescence molecules, rather than just their emission intensity, can improve super-resolution fluorescence microscopy. Here, the authors present a general solution for rendering the number of fluorescent molecules recorded by confocal or STED microscopy.

    • Haisen Ta
    • , Jan Keller
    •  & Stefan W. Hell

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Microelectromechanical systems—micrometre-sized devices with movable parts—make highly sensitive transducers. Here, the authors fabricate an integrated gallium nitride microcantilever and heterojunction field effect transistor that uses piezoelectric effects to measure displacement at the femtoscale level.

    • Abdul Talukdar
    • , M. Faheem Khan
    •  & Goutam Koley

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Metallic nanoantennas can enhance and confine electromagnetic fields, however, localized heating hinders many applications. Here, Caldarola et al.demonstrate both high near-field enhancement and ultra-low heat conversion in the visible-near infrared region using silicon dimer nanoantennas with 20 nm gaps.

    • Martín Caldarola
    • , Pablo Albella
    •  & Stefan A. Maier

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Light atoms are hardly visible through standard microscopy techniques, because of their smaller scattering power and higher knock-on probability. Here, the authors present an approach to probe light atoms by means of electron energy loss spectroscopy, relying on inelastically scattered electrons.

    • Ryosuke Senga
    •  & Kazu Suenaga

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Existing single-particle tracking techniques are limited in terms of penetration depth, tracking range or temporal resolution. Here, Perilloet al. demonstrate three-dimensional particle tracking up to 200-μm depth, with 35-nm spatial localization and 50-μs resolution using multiplexed two-photon excitation.

    • Evan P. Perillo
    • , Yen-Liang Liu
    •  & Andrew K. Dunn

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Studying the spectra of molecules typically requires large samples, which can be difficult to achieve for hard-to-generate ions. Here, the authors obtain spectra from single CaH+molecules in a three-ion Columbic crystal, observing new molecular transitions.

    • Ncamiso B. Khanyile
    • , Gang Shu
    •  & Kenneth R. Brown

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Thermoelectric materials have the potential to convert waste heat into electricity. Although some of the more viable thermoelectric materials are based on expensive rare earth elements, here the authors replace Yb with low-cost Ce by engineering Ce solubility, thereby making Ce-CoSb3 a competitive thermoelectric.

    • Yinglu Tang
    • , Riley Hanus
    •  & G. Jeffrey Snyder

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Ultrathin semiconductor metafilms can be designed to achieve near-unity absorption in specific spectral regions. Here, Kim et al. engineer nanoscale optical resonances in sub-50-nm-thick germanium nanobeams metafilms to demonstrate near-unity absorption in one or more desired wavelength regions.

    • Soo Jin Kim
    • , Pengyu Fan
    •  & Mark L. Brongersma

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Full tomography of the quantum state of a many-body system becomes harder as more and more atoms are included. Here the authors borrow a concept from condensed-matter physics, continuous matrix-product states, and present an efficient approach for experimental quantum-field tomography.

    • A. Steffens
    • , M. Friesdorf
    •  & J. Eisert

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Anatase is a pivotal material in devices for energy-harvesting applications and catalysis. Here, Stetsovych et al. demonstrate the potential of simultaneously combining atomic force microscopy and scanning tunnelling microscopy to identify the atomic species populating the (101) surface of anatase.

    • Oleksandr Stetsovych
    • , Milica Todorović
    •  & Oscar Custance

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Studying a catalyst during reaction (operando conditions) can give significant insights into the changes a catalyst undergoes. Here, the authors use an operandoapproach to correlate X-ray spectroscopy and electron based imaging techniques to measure the dynamic changes in Pt nanoparticles during the catalytic hydrogenation of ethylene.

    • Y. Li
    • , D. Zakharov
    •  & A.I. Frenkel

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Magnetic reconnection is a fundamental energy release process taking place in various astrophysical environments, but it is difficult to observe it directly. Here, the authors provide evidence of three-dimensional magnetic reconnection in a solar eruption using combined perspectives of two spacecraft.

    • J. Q. Sun
    • , X. Cheng
    •  & C. Fang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Hyperbolic phonon polariton modes in natural hyperbolic materials could have uses in near-field optical imaging, guiding, and focusing applications. Here Li et al.demonstrate enlarged imaging and super-resolution focusing from a flat slab of hexagonal boron nitride enabled by hyperbolic phonon polariton modes.

    • Peining Li
    • , Martin Lewin
    •  & Thomas Taubner

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Fluorescence from nanoparticles enables high-resolution optical imaging, but this approach is limited to those structures that emit light. Here, the authors demonstrate a microscope that uses a cavity to enhance the measurement of the alternative optical properties of absorption and dispersion.

    • Matthias Mader
    • , Jakob Reichel
    •  & David Hunger

  • Article |

    Quantum mechanical resonant tunnelling is believed to be only feasible in semiconductor-based heterostructures due to high crystalline quality required, which restricts the number of viable materials. Here, the authors demonstrate resonant tunnelling in a deliberately designed complex-oxide superlattice.

    • Woo Seok Choi
    • , Sang A. Lee
    •  & Ho Nyung Lee

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The free-volume of a polymer is a key parameter in its ability to permit through transport of small molecules. Here, the authors develop a way of introducing different degrees of artificial free-volume to a polymer membrane, and thus tailor its penetrability for applications including biofuel purification.

    • Nikos Petzetakis
    • , Cara M. Doherty
    •  & Nitash P. Balsara

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The properties of 2D materials such as graphene can vary according to the quality and, for vertical devices, the interfaces between materials. Here, the authors report a method using TOF-SIMS, micro-Raman spectroscopy and atomic force microscopy to give high levels of detail of vertical 2D heterostructures.

    • Harry Chou
    • , Ariel Ismach
    •  & Andrei Dolocan

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The family of two-dimensional materials is ever growing, but greater functionality can be realized by combining them together. Here, the authors report the direct synthesis of multijunction heterostructures made from graphene, tungsten diselenide and either molybdenum disulphide or molybdenum diselenide.

    • Yu-Chuan Lin
    • , Ram Krishna Ghosh
    •  & Joshua A. Robinson

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Free, or solvated, electrons in a solution are known to form at the interface between a liquid and a gas. Here, the authors use absorption spectroscopy in a total internal reflection geometry to probe solvated electrons generated at a plasma in contact with the surface of an aqueous solution

    • Paul Rumbach
    • , David M. Bartels
    •  & David B. Go

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Fluoroalkenes are found widely in biologically active compounds, but their introduction can be difficult or laborious. Here, the authors report a C–H/C–F activation strategy to introduce monofluoroalkenes into organic molecules in one step with good to excellent yields.

    • Panpan Tian
    • , Chao Feng
    •  & Teck-Peng Loh

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Technical difficulties have so far limited the application of high-resolution secondary-electron microscopy in imaging surface structures. Here, the authors report a successful determination of surface reconstruction of strontium titanate, using the secondary-electron microscopy along with other techniques.

    • J. Ciston
    • , H. G. Brown
    •  & L. D. Marks

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Water splitting using earth-abundant materials promises a low cost solution to the problem of large scale energy storage. Here, the authors fabricate a haematite and silicon-based high-efficiency water splitting device, which operates without the need for an externally applied bias.

    • Ji-Wook Jang
    • , Chun Du
    •  & Dunwei Wang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    DNA-coated colloids have failed to achieve their promise of programmable self-assembly because they stick to each other like Velcro. Here Wang et al.overcome this problem by making clickable smooth colloids that are coated with short single-stranded DNA at high density.

    • Yu Wang
    • , Yufeng Wang
    •  & David J. Pine

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Nanowires and nanotubes are ideal candidates for energy applications but inorganic multielement oxides are less well studied. Here, the authors propose a gradient-electrospinning followed by controlled-pyrolysis method to synthesize various controllable one dimensional metal oxide nanostructures.

    • Chaojiang Niu
    • , Jiashen Meng
    •  & Liqiang Mai

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Plasmonic nanostructures are a promising alternative to conventional pixels, where their characteristics at the nanoscale offer many benefits. Franklin et al. combine plasmonic surfaces with liquid crystals to create voltage-tunable polarization-independent color pixels for reflective displays.

    • Daniel Franklin
    • , Yuan Chen
    •  & Debashis Chanda

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Although screw dislocations impact on the properties of various engineering materials, their investigation on the atomic scale has been challenging. Here, the authors use optical sectioning in a scanning transmission electron microscope to achieve direct imaging of screw displacements around a screw dislocation core in GaN.

    • H. Yang
    • , J. G. Lozano
    •  & P. D. Nellist

  • Article
    | Open Access

    High-resolution microscopy allows imaging of information on the atomic scale. Here, by combining precession electron diffraction with scanning transmission electron microscopy, the authors demonstrate an efficient, alternative technique to determine the three-dimensional orientation of materials.

    • Alexander S. Eggeman
    • , Robert Krakow
    •  & Paul A. Midgley

  • Article |

    Carbon nanotubes have been proposed for many forms of water treatment, although ultrafiltration nanotube-based membranes with very high flow rates remain rare. Here, the authors fabricate a membrane delivering water permeability close to 30,000 litres per square meter per hour at 1 bar.

    • Byeongho Lee
    • , Youngbin Baek
    •  & Yong Hyup Kim

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Nanomechanical resonators are sensitive to tiny changes in their mass. Here, the authors demonstrate a method for quickly measuring many resonator modes and use it to analyse the mass and position of multiple nanoparticles flowing in a fluid channel with a precision of 40 attograms and 150 nm, respectively.

    • Selim Olcum
    • , Nathan Cermak
    •  & Scott R. Manalis

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Visualization of the gas distribution around working catalyst is crucial for understanding structure–activity relationships. Here, the authors show that gas distribution can be imaged in situwith high spatial and temporal resolution using infrared planar laser-induced fluorescence.

    • Johan Zetterberg
    • , Sara Blomberg
    •  & Edvin Lundgren

  • Article
    | Open Access

    β-Peptoids are based on N-alkylated β-aminopropionic acid residues, which have been inspired by the more intensely studied peptoids and β-peptides. Here, the authors report X-ray crystal structures of oligomeric β-peptoids demonstrating secondary structures with this backbone.

    • Jonas S. Laursen
    • , Pernille Harris
    •  & Christian A. Olsen

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Morphological characterization of organic photovoltaic active layers is restricted by the lack of accurate chemical mapping tools. Here, the authors demonstrate an energy-filtered scanning electron microscopy technique, which enables sub-nanometre resolution imaging of an organic photovoltaic blend.

    • Robert C. Masters
    • , Andrew J. Pearson
    •  & Cornelia Rodenburg

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Mass spectral analysis is used to map the composition of materials and surfaces in numerous fields. Here, the authors report a mass spectral technique based on extreme ultraviolet laser ablation that allows three-dimensional imaging of chemical composition in addition to giving highly sensitive nanoscale resolution.

    • Ilya Kuznetsov
    • , Jorge Filevich
    •  & Carmen S. Menoni

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The current methods of fabricating three-dimensional particles include photolithography, layer-by-layer printing and several others. Here, Paulsen et al. demonstrate an optofluidic approach, whereby masked ultraviolet light is illuminated on photosensitive fluids whose cross-sections are shaped by fluid inertia.

    • Kevin S. Paulsen
    • , Dino Di Carlo
    •  & Aram J. Chung

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