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Energy storage ceramics typically face a trade-off between polarization and breakdown strength. Here, the authors overcome the paradox through a unique high-entropy design aimed at regulating phase structure and minimizing interfacial polarization.

Strong-field laser surface passivation achieves orders of magnitude reduction in the corrosion rate of stainless steels.

Lead-free piezoelectric ceramics typically face a trade-off between Curie temperature and piezoelectric response. Here, the authors demonstrate a stress engineering via BaAl₂O₄ incorporation in BaTiO₃-based ceramics simultaneously achieves high Curie temperature and piezoelectric response.

Simulations were used to investigate the effects of local structural heterogeneity on piezoelectricity in ceramics. From this, a Sm-doped PMN–PT composition was designed with an extremely high piezoelectric coefficient for polycrystalline systems.

Superionic materials are of interest for solid-state batteries or thermoelectrics, yet a clear understanding of the atomistic mechanisms is lacking. Here it is shown that transverse acoustic phonons persist above the superionic transition in argyrodite Ag₈SnSe₆, and that the free-Se sublattice controls fast Ag cation diffusion.

Transition metal dissolution from cathode materials limits the cycle life of Li-ion batteries. Here, the authors report an atomic-thin protecting layer on the surface of a high-voltage cathode material, enabling long-term Li-ion battery cycling.

Vacancies are traditionally considered to play a role of phonon-defect scattering. Here, the authors show that vacancies can induce phonon softening, enhance phonon anharmonicity, and cause a dramatic reduction in the lattice thermal conductivity.

Overspray and instability at high resolution has limited the widespread application of aerosol jet printing. Here, authors introduce an annular acoustic field coupled with a modified nozzle geometry, resulting in fine traces (line width <6 μm, overspray < 0.1 μm) with excellent printing stability.

Electrical control of topological spin textures is a major goal of spintronics. Here, the authors combine LaCl, a ferromagnet, and In2Se3, a ferroelectric, to create a multiferroic heterostructure, where bimerons, a topological spin-texture, can be created and annihilated by ferroelectric switching.

While splitting water into fuel may provide a green, renewable method for energy storage, water oxidation is its bottleneck. Here, authors reported multiferroic electrocatalysts with improved oxygen evolution performances assisted by polarization.

Combining a perovskite ferroelectric with moderate piezoelectric properties and a nonpiezoelectric pervoskite relaxor can create a highly piezoelectric material. Here, the authors help explain this unusual result by quantifying how polar nanoregions in the material contribute to its piezoelectric response.

The introduction of minimal Ni into MnCoSi efficiently changes the magnetic interaction and establish a thermal-induced magnetic transition from a spiral magnetic state to a ferromagnetic-like state in Mn_1-xNi_xCoSi alloys. With increasing the temperature, both the cycloidal and helical magnetic spin rotates continuously and coherently towards to b axis during the transition. Therefore, a wide-temperature range zero thermal expansion behaviour is realized owing to the robust magnetoelastic coupling.

The mechanism for the enhanced piezoelectricity in (K,Na)NbO₃ based ceramics has not been fully understood. Here, the authors find that the dopants induced tetragonal phase and the accompanying high-density nanoscale heterostructures are responsible for the high dielectric and piezoelectric properties.

CO₂ conversion driven by light is a promising strategy to synchronously overcome global warming and energy-supply issues. Here the authors show that the sulfur defect engineering on a quaternary AgInP2S6 atomic layer can excitingly change the CO₂ photoreduction reaction pathway to the generation of ethene.

There is a lack of efficient transcriptional activation tools for plant cells. Now, a study describes the development of a new potent dCas9-based transcriptional activation system that allows activation of single or multiple genes in both plant and mammalian cells.

Mechanical force applied on the surface of Bi₅Ti₃FeO₁₅ film generates by an AFM tip will effectively drive a transition of the local ferroelastic strain state, reverse both the polarization and magnetization in a way similar to an electric field. Manipulation of both ferroelectric and magnetic domains of Bi₅Ti₃FeO₁₅ thin film using electric field and external mechanical force is reported, which confirms the magnetoelectric coupling in Bi₅Ti₃FeO₁₅, indicates the electric and magnetic orders are coupled through ferroelasticity. Current work provides a framework for exploring cross-coupling among multiple orders and potential for developing novel nanoscale functional devices.