Volume 24 Issue 9, September 2025

Unconventional spin–orbit torque generated by a low-symmetry topological semimetal enables purely electrical switching of the perpendicular magnetic octupole in a chiral antiferromagnet.

Layer-dependent magnetic behaviour is used to realize reconfigurable exchange bias in a 2D antiferromagnet.

Mixed ceramics and thin films of well-known ferroelectric and antiferroelectric materials reveal dipolar skyrmions, providing a scalable platform to explore the properties and applications of non-collinear polarization textures.

Multislice electron ptychography reveals ferroelectric microstructures with sub-ångström lateral resolution and nanometre depth resolution, directly imaging a ferroelectricity generated by anion displacements relative to the Nb sublattice.

A carbon–nitrogen cross-coupling polymerization method is developed to precisely synthesize functional polyarylamines at large scale, resulting in perovskite solar cells with promising efficiencies and stability.

Hot carriers with high mobility and long diffusion length are observed in a two-dimensional conjugated coordination polymer.

Drying-driven assembly of tripeptides into porous, redispersible microparticles enables spontaneous protein encapsulation and protection.

A hybrid decellularized extracellular matrix–polyacrylamide scaffold reveals how extracellular matrix properties influence cardiac ageing, offering insights for potential rejuvenation therapies.

Implantable bioconstructs with sequential release of growth factors promote enhanced myofibre formation, angiogenesis and innervation in a mouse model of volumetric muscle loss.

Sonochemical exfoliation of black phosphorus crystals with a slightly enlarged lattice parameter along the armchair direction produces narrow black phosphorus nanoribbons (BPNRs) with well-defined edge chirality at a yield of up to 95%. The high performance of transistors and photodetectors fabricated with these BPNRs demonstrates the potential of BPNRs for electronic and optoelectronic applications.

Optical loss usually leads to dissipation, but has been shown, counterintuitively, to create strong light localization. This demonstration — realized by implementing a photonic arrangement with a special topology in a programmable integrated photonic platform — highlights loss as a powerful control of the topological properties of electromagnetic modes.

The authors review the mechanisms of resistive switching in monolayer and bulk forms of two-dimensional layered materials, providing insights into atomic motions and electronic transport across interfaces.

Topological phenomena in ferroelectrics such as vortices are of interest as they may be useful for high-density storage applications, but similar phenomena have not been seen in antiferroelectrics, which possess antipolar dipole arrangements. Here, using electron microscopy, topological antivortices and faint vortices are seen in the prototypical antiferroelectric PbZrO₃.

A decellularized extracellular matrix scaffold containing nanocapsules orchestrates timed growth factor release to promote muscle stem cell proliferation and differentiation and effective muscle regeneration after traumatic injury.

Through the sonochemical exfoliation of grown black phosphorus crystals, high-quality, narrow and clean black phosphorus nanoribbons with smooth edges and defined edge chirality are achieved, enabling the realization of high-performance transistors and photodetectors.

A family of organic metals that behave as hyper-gap transparent conductors is discussed. Such an elusive combination of electronic conduction and optical transparency is highly attractive for plasmonics and photonics applications.

Using a reconfigurable integrated photonic platform, the authors reveal the appearance of non-Hermitian topology and the existence of edge modes emerging exclusively from optical loss modulation.

Electrical transport measurements of magic-angle twisted trilayer graphene are presented.

By introducing an unconventional spin–orbit torque, the authors demonstrate an all-electrical way to bidirectionally switch the perpendicular chiral antiferromagnetic order in Mn₃Sn, promoting the application of antiferromagnetic spintronics.

The authors use nitrogen-vacancy centre magnetometry to explore layer number and magnetic field evolution of ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic domains in the A-type antiferromagnet CrPS₄.

Polar skyrmions are of interest for nanoelectronics due to their exotic properties. However, so far, these are metastable states requiring a delicate balance of boundary conditions to form in heterostructures. In ferroelectric and antiferroelectric solid solutions, skyrmionic textures are observed to form in both bulk and film.

Limited by challenges in light-atom imaging, microscopic investigations of ferroelectricity have used cation–cation displacements as a proxy for the true cation–anion distortions. Using electron ptychography, oxygen anions can be tracked to observe an otherwise-hidden ferroelectric mechanism in thin-film NaNbO₃, which would have appeared antiferroelectric from cations alone.

Solvent co-intercalation into graphite anodes for sodium-ion batteries is common; however, intercalation into cathodes is much less explored. Here, using operando experiments as well as theory, solvent co-intercalation in a range of layered sulfides is investigated.

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.

Hot carrier transport in organic systems has remained elusive due to rapid energy relaxation and limited transport properties. Here highly mobile hot carriers and their relaxation dynamics are reported in a crystalline two-dimensional conjugated coordination polymer, revealing two distinct transport regimes.

Here the authors design tripeptides that form dynamic soluble dispersions and undergo phase separation upon drying to assemble into porous particles. This evaporation-driven emulsification can be harnessed to encapsulate and stabilize biomolecules.

Cell migration in confined environments is initiated by a cytoplasmic pool of anillin and Ect2 that promotes RhoA/myosin II-mediated activation at the poles of migrating cells, in a process dependent on the extracellular environment stiffness.

A hybrid extracellular matrix–hydrogel with tunable mechanical stiffness and biochemical composition of young or aged cardiac tissue is used to identify the specific contributions of extracellular matrix ligands and mechanics for fibroblast aging.