Volume 22 Issue 11, November 2023

Xiaodong Chen, a professor at Nanyang Technological University (School of Materials Science and Engineering), talks to Nature Materials about how innovations in materials science and technology are paving the way for a more sustainable future in electronics.

Terahertz photoconductivity measurements coupled with theoretical modelling reveals that thermal transient excitations to more delocalized states enhances hole mobility in organic molecular semiconductors.

Chiral single-photon emitters are desirable, versatile tools for quantum information processing. Exploiting proximity to a strain-induced local magnetic field in the van der Waals antiferromagnet NiPS₃ enables the emission of high-purity chiral single photons from monolayer WSe₂ at zero external magnetic field.

Non-equilibrium thermodynamics describes activity-stabilized mixed states in complex active-matter systems.

An approach to analyse the deformation behaviour of polymer networks provides an enhanced set of structural information, improving our understanding of the elasticity of soft materials.

By stacking few-layer WSe₂ in proximity to twisted double bilayer graphene, researchers report solid evidence of superconductivity.

Lymphatic vessels within and near to tumours facilitate nanoparticle transport out of tumours, with ramifications in the design and implementation of next-generation clinical cancer nanomedicines.

Pressure sensing is challenging in liquid environments, where typical solid-state sensors do not perform well. A sensor with solid–liquid–liquid–gas multiphasic interfaces — its design inspired by the lotus leaf, and in which a trapped air layer modulates capacitance changes with pressure — is shown to achieve near-ideal pressure sensing and is well suited to liquid environments.

Self-healing behaviour in a nanotwinned diamond composite, at room temperature, has been quantitatively evaluated through tensile testing. The phenomenon is shown to arise from a transition of atomic interactions from repulsion to attraction and the formation of nanoscale diamond ‘osteoblasts’, in analogy to the process of bone healing in living organisms.

The commercialization of electronic textile (e-textile) products requires balanced sustainability considerations. Here the authors propose an e-textile design framework involving repair, recycle, replacement and reduction that can unify environmental friendliness, market viability, supply-chain resilience and user experience quality.

It is imperative that sustainability issues are considered throughout the life cycle of modern organic electronic devices. Here McCulloch and colleagues evaluate the status of embedded carbon, options for more sustainable materials, and recycling solutions both during manufacturing and at the end of life in organic electronic products.

Proximity-induced chiral quantum emission is generated by applying nanoindentation on monolayer WSe₂ on an antiferromagnetic van der Waals material (NiPS₃) at zero external magnetic fields, reporting a degree of circular polarization of 0.89 and a single-photon purity of 95%.

The room-temperature self-healing behaviour of a nanotwinned diamond composite is quantitatively evaluated and found to stem from both the formation of nanoscale diamond osteoblasts and the atomic interaction transition from repulsion to attraction.

A route to the rapid and batch production of 12 inch MoS₂ monolayers is reported, which shows a synergistic optimization of scale–cost–performance metrics for a transition from lab to fab.

The authors use low-temperature transport measurements to report superconductivity in a twisted double bilayer graphene system.

Employing a widefield cryogenic microscope to parallelize resonant spectroscopy, chip-scale automated optical characterization of solid-state quantum emitters is demonstrated.

The authors report the emergence of a transient hexatic state during laser-induced transformation between two charge-density wave (CDW) phases in a thin film of the CDW material 1T-TaS₂.

Solid-state pressure sensors have performance limitations in liquid environments. Here, the authors design a pressure sensor using solid–liquid–liquid–gas multiphasic interfaces where a trapped air layer modulates capacitance changes with pressure to achieve near-friction-free contact line motions for near-ideal pressure sensing.

Dynamic disorder reduces the carrier mobility in organic semiconductors (OSs) to an extent that depends on their specific electronic band structure. Here the authors study the temperature-dependent hole mobility of two structurally similar OSs and find that thermal access to transiently delocalized states enhances hole mobility in C8-DNTT-C8 compared to DNTT.

Lithium-rich nickel manganese cobalt oxide cathodes are widely explored due to their high capacities related to their anionic redox chemistry. A compositional optimization pathway for these materials investigating the variation of using cobalt and nickel now provides valuable guidelines for future high-capacity cathode design.

Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) tape is widely used for lithium-ion batteries but its chemical stability has been largely overlooked. Reversible self-discharge is now shown to be virtually eliminated in LiFePO₄–graphite cells by replacing PET with polypropylene jellyroll tape.

Unit-cell-thick films of metal–organic frameworks with ordered porosity would be attractive for membrane applications as these thin systems combine large molecular flux with high selectivity. Here crystalline ZIF films are grown on a crystalline substrate with high H₂/N₂ gas separation performance.

Extracting information about polymer network topology from mechanical properties alone remains challenging. Here the authors develop a forensic approach to quantify network structural information by analysing their nonlinear mechanics.

The rational design of out-of-equilibrium demixing transitions remains challenging. Active fluids are used to control the liquid–liquid phase separation of passive DNA nanostars and establish the activity-based control of the phase diagram.

Laminin, an important component of the extracellular matrix supporting the epithelium, hinders the typical mechanoresponse of epithelial cells to an increase in substrate stiffness, by protecting the cell nucleus from mechanical deformation.

Organic luminophores emit a bright near-infrared afterglow after X-ray irradiation and outperform commercially available radio sensitizers by producing higher levels of singlet oxygen, having potential applications in precision cancer theranostics.