Articles

High-entropy systems can present a range of striking physical properties, but mainly involve metal alloys. Here, using low-energy proton irradiation, a high-entropy superparaelectric phase is generated in a relaxor ferroelectric composition, increasing polarizability and enabling a capacitive energy density of 45.7 J cm^–3.

Artificial DNA photofluids exhibit dissipative life-like motion when fuelled by light in space and time, converting photoenergy into out-of-equilibrium structures on the macroscale.

The authors report that the metallic spin-1/2 chain compound Ti₄MnBi₂ forms near a quantum critical point with inherent frustration. They identify strong 1D spin and 3D electron coupling that should stimulate the search for materials exhibiting a 1D Kondo effect and heavy fermions.

The precise synthesis of functional polyarylamines based on a reactivity-regulated sequent cross-coupling carbon–nitrogen polycondensation method has been reported, with excellent batch-to-batch uniformity for perovskite solar cells.

A bioinspired microneedle patch mimics the natural rhythm of human growth hormone secretion by combining burst-release and delayed-release modules to promote improved bone growth in mice and rats.

Stack pressure controls porosity during Li alloying/dealloying. A threshold pressure is needed for the densification and stable cycling of Li alloys in batteries, leading to the design of Li alloy anodes with densified interfacial layers for cycling at low pressures in solid-state batteries.

Organic semiconductors suffer from low optical damage thresholds, limiting their use in applications. Here the authors bypass this limit by utilizing spectrally tailored gain from stimulated emission to amplify molecular vibrations in organic semiconductors for efficient Raman lasers.

Intrinsic toughening in two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenides can be achieved simply by twisting the layers. This twisting promotes cross-layer healing and grain boundary formation, which shield fracture tips from stress concentration.

The authors demonstrate broadband terahertz emission from a two-dimensional van der Waals ferroelectric semiconductor, NbOI₂, that originates from its efficient optical rectification and apply it to realize in situ near-field terahertz spectroscopy.

Characterizing the interference of phonons at the single-molecule level remains a challenging task. Here, the authors observe and characterize destructive phonon interference in molecular junctions at room temperature.

Achieving both high efficiency and narrow emission in organic light-emitting transistors (OLETs) remains a challenge. Here the authors demonstrate laterally integrated OLETs with an intrinsic microcavity that achieve both enhanced efficiency and narrow emission.

Fracture behaviours in multilayer h-BN, involving interlayer-friction toughening and edge-reconstruction embrittlement, are identified through in situ experiments and theoretical analyses.

Extracellular anisotropic stresses trigger fibroblast transition into myofibroblasts by the mechanical self-reinforcement of cell–extracellular matrix interactions.

Exploiting the intrinsic response of magic-angle twisted bilayer graphene to resonant terahertz radiation, the interplay between electron interactions and quantum geometry is studied in such flat-band systems.

A superlattice structure of gold tetrahedra formed via a surface-promoted pathway is reported. The octo-diamond crystal is achiral, but exhibits bilayers of left- and right-handed chiral motifs with chiroptical plasmonic responses.

Using pump-power-dependent exciton absorption spectroscopy, the authors reveal magnon-mediated exciton–exciton interactions and a consequent nonlinear optical response in CrSBr, an antiferromagnetic semiconductor.

The authors present a valley-Hall topological acoustofluidic chip revealing the complex interactions between elastic valley spin and nonlinear fluid dynamics, revealing its potential towards on-chip biological applications.

Unconventional unidirectional magnetoresistance observed in the heterostructures of a topological semimetal (WTe₂) and a magnetic insulator (Cr₂Ge₂Te₆) enables the electrical read-out of the magnetic states of a perpendicularly polarized magnet through longitudinal resistance measurements.

The authors demonstrate on-chip circularly polarized light detection using the chiral properties of transition metal dichalcogenide valleytronic transistors on centrosymmetric plasmonic metamaterials.

The authors present transport measurements of rhombohedral trilayer graphene proximitized by transition metal dichalcogenides. They find that the presence of transition metal dichalcogenides enables the emergence of new superconducting and metallic phases and affects the superconducting states present in bare rhombohedral trilayer graphene.