Materials science articles within Nature Communications

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  • Article
    | Open Access

    Large-scale 2D hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) grown via chemical vapour deposition (CVD) has strategic importance for various applications of 2D materials. Here, the authors analyse the structural and electrical properties of commercially available CVD hBN from 9 popular suppliers and compare the results with mechanically exfoliated hBN and in-house CVD hBN.

    • Yue Yuan
    • , Jonas Weber
    •  & Mario Lanza

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Efficient radiation is essential to reach thermodynamic limit of photovoltaic efficiency. Here, authors design thick quantum barriers to suppress interfacial quenching and boost photon recycling in perovskite cells, achieving high radiation and photovoltaic efficiencies and long device stability.

    • Kyung Mun Yeom
    • , Changsoon Cho
    •  & Jun Hong Noh

  • Article
    | Open Access

    All-solid-state lithium-based batteries require high stack pressure during operation. Here, we investigate the mechanical, transport, and interfacial properties of Li-rich magnesium alloy and show enhanced performance at low pressure and ambient temperature for alloy-based electrodes with less than 5 at% Mg content.

    • Jack Aspinall
    • , Krishnakanth Sada
    •  & Mauro Pasta

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Researchers demonstrate that image-processing metasurfaces can be dynamically reconfigured by using phase-change materials. The work might lead to novel tunable devices for compact optical computing for applications in AR/VR and bio-medical imaging.

    • Michele Cotrufo
    • , Shaban B. Sulejman
    •  & Andrea Alù

  • Article
    | Open Access

    There are now several van der Waals magnets that have been shown to host skyrmions, however, these are typically hampered by a low Curie temperature, restricting the temperature at which the skyrmions can exist. Here, Zhang, Jiang, Jiang and coauthors find a skyrmion lattice in the van der Waals magnet Fe3 − xGaTe2 above room temperature and demonstrate the critical role of symmetry breaking in crystal lattice in the origin of these skyrmions.

    • Chenhui Zhang
    • , Ze Jiang
    •  & Hyunsoo Yang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    A consistency issue with the production of porous polymer-based radiative coatings can be a significant drop in the cooling performance when dried under humid conditions. This issue is efficiently resolved by adding polymer reinforcement.

    • Dongpyo Hong
    • , Yong Joon Lee
    •  & Sang Yoon Park

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Polaritons – hybrid light-matter excitations – in van der Waals materials hold promise for photonics applications below the diffraction limit. Here, the authors demonstrate in-plane steering and cloaking of phonon polaritons in assembled micro-structures based on α-MoO3 films with misaligned crystallographic orientations.

    • Hanchao Teng
    • , Na Chen
    •  & Qing Dai

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Switchable structural and physical bistability in ferroelectric materials can be achieved as result of molecular orbital breaking. Here, the authors describe the photo-mediated bistability in organosilicon Schiff base ferroelectric crystals for the modulation of dielectric, second-harmonic generation, and ferroelectric polarization and showing good in vitro biocompatibility.

    • Zhu-Xiao Gu
    • , Nan Zhang
    •  & Han-Yue Zhang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The authors study tunneling junctions in rhombohedral MoS2 bilayers and correlate their performance with the local domain layout. They show that the switching behavior in sliding ferroelectrics is strongly dependent on the pre-existing domain structure.

    • Yunze Gao
    • , Astrid Weston
    •  & Roman Gorbachev

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Designing photocatalysts to enhance the efficiency of non-oxidative coupling of methane is a challenging task. Here, the authors report that the anatase TiO2 with exposed {101} facets and Pd co-catalyst enables efficient and selective methane coupling to ethane via a heterogeneous-homogeneous hybrid reaction pathway.

    • Huizhen Zhang
    • , Pengfei Sun
    •  & Ye Wang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    In this work, authors synthesize transparent radiative cooling cover windows for flexible and foldable electronic devices. Besides demonstrated enhanced mechanical and moisture-impermeable properties, these mitigate temperature rise of devices under solar irradiation and improve overall thermal management.

    • Kang Won Lee
    • , Jonghun Yi
    •  & Dong Rip Kim

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Organic room temperature phosphorescent materials have useful properties, but development can be limited by processing and stability challenges. Here, the authors report a derivatisation strategy for the preparation of room temperature phosphorescent materials responsive to an electrostatic field.

    • Wensheng Xu
    • , Bowei Wang
    •  & Ligong Chen

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Electron transfer in solids is a fundamental process in many functional nanomaterials. Here, the authors directly observe this process via x-ray crystallography for incorporating of electron-donor guest molecules in macrocyclic nanotube crystals.

    • Daiji Ogata
    • , Shota Koide
    •  & Junpei Yuasa

  • Article
    | Open Access

    It is essential to manipulate the dynamic behaviour of charge carriers and excitons in organic light-emitting diodes. Here, authors report the trapping of injected electrons by a thermally activated delayed fluorescence assistant molecule in a bipolar host matrix and achieve long device stability.

    • Xun Tang
    • , Tuul Tsagaantsooj
    •  & Chihaya Adachi

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Recently, superconductivity near 80 K was observed in La3Ni2O7 under high pressure, but the mechanism is debated. Here the authors report angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy measurements under ambient pressure, revealing flat bands with strong electronic correlations that could be linked to superconductivity.

    • Jiangang Yang
    • , Hualei Sun
    •  & X. J. Zhou

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Here, the authors discover the ground and excited state interlayer excitons in bi- and tri-layer 2H-MoSe2 crystals which exhibit electric-field-driven hybridisation with the intralayer A excitons, showing distinct spin, layer and valley characteristics.

    • Shun Feng
    • , Aidan J. Campbell
    •  & Brian D. Gerardot

  • Article
    | Open Access

    It may be useful to obtain nylon with room temperature phosphorescence, but identifying a suitable luminophore is challenging. Here, the authors report the doping of nylon with cyano-substituted benzimidazole derivatives for room temperature phosphorescent nylons.

    • Dian-Xue Ma
    • , Zhong-Qiu Li
    •  & Yu-Wu Zhong

  • Perspective
    | Open Access

    Temporal blockade of the mononuclear phagocyte system is an approach to enhance the therapeutic efficiency of nanocarrier drug-delivery systems but the broad applicability is hindered by the complexity of optimisation and management of potential side effects. Here, the authors review the development of this technique and show its efficiency using meta-analysis of the published data and discuss essential features for its successful translation to clinic.

    • Ivan V. Zelepukin
    • , Konstantin G. Shevchenko
    •  & Sergey M. Deyev

  • Article
    | Open Access

    2D AMX2 compounds (where A is a monovalent metal ion, M is a trivalent metal, and X is a chalcogen) are a family of materials with coupled ionic-electronic properties. Here, the authors report a chemical vapor deposition strategy to fabricate 20 types of 2D AMX2 flakes, exhibiting superionic conductivity or room temperature ferroelectricity.

    • Xiang Xu
    • , Yunxin Chen
    •  & Tianyou Zhai

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Frustrated magnetic systems typically have multiple ground state configurations. While such multistability is common in amorphous materials, periodic mechanical systems have long range elastic interactions that tend to lead to a long-range ordered ground state. Herein, Sirote-Katz, Shohat et al. introduce periodic mechanical systems that have many disordered metastable states.

    • Chaviva Sirote-Katz
    • , Dor Shohat
    •  & Yair Shokef

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Natural materials exhibit compelling functionalities owing to their irregular architectures, but the study on irregular architected materials is elusive. Here the authors report a generative computational framework to virtually grow irregular materials with optimized properties that match target stress distributions, facilitating tissue support for orthopedic femur restoration.

    • Yingqi Jia
    • , Ke Liu
    •  & Xiaojia Shelly Zhang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Thermal fatigue frequently leads to failure in electronic solder joints. Here, the authors measure and quantitatively explain how microstructure affects thermal fatigue in a ball grid array package and propose optimum microstructures for thermal fatigue resistance.

    • J. W. Xian
    • , Y. L. Xu
    •  & C. M. Gourlay

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Helimagnetic materials host a twisted magnetic texture, realizing screws, cycloids, and cones. While helimagnets are common in three dimensional materials, layered van der Waals helimagnets are exceedingly rare. Here, Akatsuka et al. demonstrate conical ordering in the easily cleavable magnet DyTe3.

    • Shun Akatsuka
    • , Sebastian Esser
    •  & Max Hirschberger

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Understanding the microscopic variability of CMOS spin qubits is crucial for developing scalable quantum processors. Here the authors report a combined experimental and numerical study of the effect of interface roughness on variability of quantum dot spin qubits formed at the Si/SiO2 interface.

    • Jesús D. Cifuentes
    • , Tuomo Tanttu
    •  & Andre Saraiva

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The band topology of twisted 2D systems is a key factor behind their fascinating physics. Here, the authors demonstrate the role of polarization in driving the band topology evolution in twisted transition metal dichalcogenide homobilayers.

    • Xiao-Wei Zhang
    • , Chong Wang
    •  & Di Xiao

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Asymmetric mechanical transducers are pivotal in various applications; however, conventional methods demand continuous energy and intricate fabrication. Here, the authors demonstrate a droplet-based mechanical transducer utilizing wettability-patterned surfaces, enabling precise control of droplet dynamics.

    • Luanluan Xue
    • , An Li
    •  & Yanlin Song

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Dielectric elastomer actuators require high driving electric fields to achieve high performances for soft robots due to their low dielectric constant and high stiffness. Here, the authors introduce polar fluorinated groups and nanodomains aggregated by long alkyl side chains into the dielectric elastomer design to overcome these issues and develop fast soft robots.

    • Wenwen Feng
    • , Lin Sun
    •  & Chao Wang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Extreme magnetoresistance is characterized by a large and non-saturating magnetoresistance. Typically, it is observed in materials with compensated bandstructures, however, here, Christensen et al demonstrate a large and non-saturating magnetoresistance in a γAl2O3/SrTiO3 heterostructure, which is related to disorder, rather than the materials bandstructure.

    • D. V. Christensen
    • , T. S. Steegemans
    •  & N. Pryds

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The authors observe multiferroicity in a single-layer non van der Waals material, CuCrSe2. The coexistence of room-temperature ferroelectricity and ferromagnetism up to 120 K is corroborated by a set of comprehensive experimental techniques.

    • Zhenyu Sun
    • , Yueqi Su
    •  & Baojie Feng

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Existing proposals of axion insulators are limited to spin-1/2 systems. Here the authors put forward a concept of a high spin axion insulator with several peculiar properties, such as the absence of gapless surface states and tunability of the axion field by an external magnetic field.

    • Shuai Li
    • , Ming Gong
    •  & X. C. Xie

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