Articles in 2015

Band structures with Fermi arcs characteristic of Weyl semimetals are observed on NbP and TaP. By studying NbP, TaP and TaAs, the evolution of the Fermi surface with the spin–orbit coupling is reported.

Aggregations of fire ants are viscoelastic with identical elastic and viscous moduli, and exhibit shear-thinning behaviour when deformed beyond the linear regime.

Although rechargeable batteries that use light electropositive metal anodes are attractive, electrodeposition of calcium has proved difficult. Calcium plating at moderate temperatures using conventional organic electrolytes has now been demonstrated.

The walls of microtubules can self-repair bending-induced damage.

Short-lived topological defects in active liquid crystals can exhibit long-range, long-lived orientational order.

An additive manufacturing technique makes heterogeneous composites with tunable local microstructure and composition.

Intrinsically disordered protein polymers can be designed to encode tunable lower or upper critical solution temperatures in physiological solutions.

To aid the reproducibility of published results for photovoltaic devices, from now on we will ask authors of relevant manuscripts to complete a checklist of key technical information that must be reported.

This Review discusses stimuli-responsive liquid crystalline polymer networks and elastomers as materials with programmable mechanics for use in functional devices.

Strength, ductility and corrosion resistance have been simultaneously obtained in a low-density lithium-containing magnesium alloy, thereby enhancing its potential use in transportation.

N-Heterocyclic carbene Ir(III) complexes, used as deep blue phosphorescent emitters and as electron-blocking dopants in organic LEDs, allow the realization of devices with very high brightness and reduced efficiency roll-off.

A magnesium-based alloy with large lithium content demonstrates high specific strength in combination with corrosion resistance, associated with the formation of a lithium carbonate surface film that protects the alloy from its environment.

Although protecting photoanodes using metal oxides is attractive for solar fuel applications, the photoanodes typically suffer from poor photovoltage. Now, insulating oxide layers are shown to promote enhanced photovoltages and general design principles are suggested.