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The authors present a feasible strategy of anion-induced strain engineering to regulate the lattice structure and properties of super-elongated BiFeO₃ epitaxial films, revealing the correlations among lattice distortion, local electronic hybridization, and multiferroic properties.

The positive thermal expansion exhibited by most materials at increased temperatures is a severe issue for many high precision applications. Here, Xing and co-workers show that redox intercalation of Li ions into a ScF₃framework offers effective control of the thermal expansion for this simple material.

Zero thermal expansion (ZTE) alloys with multi-properties are important for high-precision applications, but scarce. Here the authors incorporate a boron-migration-mediated solid-state reaction to construct a dual-phase ZTE alloy with enhanced mechanical properties and cyclic thermal stabilities.

Zero thermal expansion materials play an increasingly important role in modern high-precision applications, but they are relatively scarce. Here, the authors achieve an isotropic zero thermal expansion with a very high toughness by manipulating chemical partitioning in chemically complex alloys.

Zero thermal expansion alloys have unique dimensional stability but suffer from inherent brittleness and compositional sensitivity. Here the authors present the one-step eutectic reaction approach to produce a dual-phase alloy with an axial zero expansion and promising mechanical properties.

Nanosized ceria has conventionally been thought to have a cubic fluorite structure. Here, the authors use a combination of experiments and simulations to show that oxygen vacancies in ceria promote a charge-transfer induced phase transition from tetragonal to cubic.

Negative thermal expansion alloys possess an important role in regulating thermal expansion. Here, the authors report a giant uniaxial negative thermal expansion, mainly driven by high-frequency optical branches, in metallic FeZr₂ from 93 to 1078 K.

Understanding high piezoelectricity in relaxors is challenging due to the heterogeneous structures. Here, the authors demonstrate that the competing local polar order-disorder state with balanced length and direction randomness is the key.

Piezoelectric materials are used as sensors or actuators in many devices. Here, the authors demonstrate that semiconducting ZnO particles embedded into a Bi_0.5Na_0.5TiO₃-based matrix improve its piezoelectric properties, promising an alternative to presently used lead-based materials.