Articles

Producing isolated single-photon emitters in hexagonal boron nitride with predefined spin transitions is challenging. Oxygen annealing enables the controlled fabrication of narrowband quantum emitters with optically active spin for quantum applications.

Guided by density functional theory, a commercially viable refractory alloy is developed, which exhibits excellent room-temperature ductility and strength, and high strength at elevated temperatures.

Atomic force microscopy is used to investigate the adsorption and organization of ions on charged surfaces. Trivalent ions adopt complex networks, clusters and layers associated with overcharging, whereas divalent ions follow classical predictions.

Tissue stiffness mediated by Piezo1 is shown to regulate the expression of diffusive guidance cues in the developing Xenopus laevis brain, revealing a crosstalk between mechanical signals and long-range chemical signalling.

The viscosity of tumour cells is shown to govern their ability to disseminate through the bloodstream and extravasate, establishing a key biomechanical factor of metastasis.

Controllable and scalable phase transition of transition metal chalcogenides is challenging. Using in situ microscopic analysis, a non-stoichiometric phase transition from PdTe₂ to PdTe is observed on the atomic scale, providing mechanistic insights into the scalable phase engineering of transition metal chalcogenide films and heterostructures.

Short-circuiting during fast charging through lithium dendrite intrusion into electrolytes is a major challenge in solid-state batteries. Here, using thermally annealed 3-nm-thick Ag coatings, lithium penetration into brittle electrolyte Li_6.6La₃Zr_1.6Ta_0.4O₁₂ is inhibited at local current densities of 250 mA cm⁻² due to an increase in surface fracture toughness.

Protein condensates are engineered with tunable interfacial electric fields to drive electrochemical reactions, serving as a biomaterial platform for intrinsic electrogenic materials.

An in situ multistep edge-contact process is developed for MoS₂ transistors, achieving quasi-non-volatile capacitorless two-transistor dynamic random-access memory with 5-bit accuracy and nanosecond write speeds.

Integration of twist-phase-matched van der Waals flakes on optical fibre ends enables efficient nonlinear optical processes, including second-harmonic generation and parametric downconversion, and the fabrication of a frequency-doubling ultrafast laser.

A combination of scanning probe microscopy and quantum sensing is used to investigate changes in water structure under confinement. A liquid–solid phase transition is observed in thin films of water below a confinement size of 2 nm at ambient temperature.

Wafer-scale monolayer MoO₃ enables the integration of dielectrics with ultralow capacitance equivalent thickness on atomically thin semiconductors, achieving high yield and effective operation of n-type and p-type top-gated transistors.

A dual-gate structure in bilayer MoS₂ FETs is reported, allowing a high carrier density by compensating for the fringing field, which holds promise for 2D semiconductor logic applications.

Magnetic heliknotons are hopfions embedded in helical spin backgrounds. Current-induced nucleation and Hall-effect-free motion of isolated magnetic heliknotons is demonstrated in the chiral magnet FeGe.

The fabrication of conventional artificial chemoreceptors are difficult to scale up. Here a wafer scale cell-on-memristor chemoreceptive array is reported, allowing for self-powered biosensing and in situ spike encoding.

NbN/AlN/NbN qubits prepared by atomic layer deposition allow for precise control of the tunnelling barrier and stable operation beyond the temperature limit of aluminium-based devices.

A scanning single-electron transistor is used to probe the strain dependence of moiré and supermoiré domains. It is observed that these can be considered nearly independent of each other.

Light-induced phonon dynamics in 2D (BA)₂PbI₄ films reveal transient lattice shifts to a tetragonal phase, driven by Higgs-mode vibrations. Below-bandgap excitation causes larger spectral shifts, showing strong optomechanical coupling in perovskites.

Volcano plots are useful catalyst design tools for acidic oxygen reduction reaction, but have proved less successful for alkaline oxygen reduction reaction. Here, a modified volcano plot for this environment is developed and used to design PdH_x@Pt nanosheets with high oxygen reduction reaction performance.

Interwoven magnetic and non-magnetic layers in TbTi₃Bi₄ overcome kagome frustration, producing coupled elliptical-spiral magnetic and spin-density-wave orders and a very large anomalous Hall effect driven by strong electron–magnetic field interactions.