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A second-order topological insulator in an acoustical metamaterial with a breathing kagome lattice, supporting one-dimensional edge states and zero-dimensional corner states is demonstrated.
Arrays of graphene microtransistors are used to record infraslow cortical brain activity. The reduced signal drift and the array compatibility with optical imaging techniques make these devices useful for monitoring of brain physiology.
The physics of a second-order topological insulator, such as two-dimensional polarization, one-dimensional edge states and zero-dimensional corner states, are demonstrated experimentally in an acoustic breathing kagome lattice.
The phenomenology of multiferroic quantum criticality, where both ferroelectric and magnetic order parameters are tuned by quantum fluctuations, is drawn out. Non-thermal tuning parameters such as alloying and strain are explored and material realizations proposed.
Thermal management can improve device function, but the role of dislocations is poorly understood. Here, thermoreflectance measurements show orientated dislocations in InN cause a thermal anisotropy ratio of 10, which is not predicted by standard models.
Electric control of Li+ ion migration within MoS2 multilayer films allows the realization of memristive devices that can be connected in-plane to show synaptic competition and cooperation behaviours.
An optimized design for a broad-area surface-emitting photonic-crystal laser leads to high brightness of over 300 MW cm–2 sr–1 and an output power of 10 W under pulsed excitation.
An ordered structure that has only translational periodicity in one direction— unlike the known solid categories of crystal, quasicrystal and amorphous— is discovered in MgO and Nd2O3 ceramics.
A vertical electric field is shown to induce reversible transitions between a semiconducting 2H phase, a distorted transient structure and a conducting Td phase in MoTe2 and Mo1–xWxTe2 multilayers, and used to realize vertical resistive random access memories.
Black phosphorus is being considered for energy storage but its rate and cycling capabilities are limited by intrinsic (de-)alloying. Molecular-level surface redox sites on oxidized black phosphorus can now be coupled with graphene via strong interlayer bonding.
Ferrimagnetic multilayers and alloys are shown to have an interesting thickness dependence of spin coherence length and spin torque efficiency. These results pave the way toward energy-efficient spintronics.
In this type of thermal cloak, when a fluid circulates around the object of interest, the temperature perturbation is minimized as the effective thermal conductivity of the fluid becomes very high due to convective effects.
Organic radical polymers are currently being considered as active materials for fast-charging battery electrodes but their transport and charge storage characteristics are not well understood. A quantitative view of in situ ion transport and doping in these systems during the redox process is now provided.
Tuning ionic permeation across nanoscale pores is important for areas ranging from nanofluidic computing to drug delivery. Complex formation between crown ethers and dissolved metal ions is used to demonstrate graphene-based ion channels with high mechanosensitivity.
Bi2Te3 materials suffer from brittleness, limiting their application for thermoelectric harvesting. By depositing ordered nanocrystals onto single-wall carbon nanotubes, a flexible material is formed that achieves ZT of 0.89 at room temperature.
Controlling crystallite size can lead to improved applications. Here, this is achieved by a combination of metal ions, organic linkers, and polymers; the resultant membrane displays promising CO2/N2 separation properties and hydrolytic stability.