Research articles

A polymeric coating with sheltered positive charges establishes strong interactions with coagulation factor XII without inducing surface-induced coagulation activation, being a promising antithrombotic coating for biomedical devices.

Aluminium surface work hardening is used to create structures that cover multiple length scales, featuring precise nano-features and adaptable material options. The potential is showcased through multi-scale carbon network sensors.

Synthetic hydrogels and immune organs-on-chip mimicking human immune tissue developed from blood samples allow effective modelling of immune responses and B cell disorders, with implications for the development of improved immunotherapies and vaccines.

Two-dimensional monocrystalline gadolinium pentoxide with high dielectric constant and wide bandgap was prepared through van der Waals epitaxy, allowing the realization of sub-1 nm equivalent oxide thickness and low-power nanoelectronics.

Minutes-scale whole-cell movements fuelled by fast cytoskeletal dynamics and nuclear activity regulate mesenchymal stem cells differentiation into chondrocytes in hydrogels, being another process modulating the stem cell fate.

Thermoelectric cooling can occur inside a whole material, but this is usually insignificant compared with Peltier cooling at material interfaces. An electronic phase transition in YbInCu₄ causes substantial Thomson cooling inside the whole material with a temperature drop of 6 K at 38 K.

Benzene is a genotoxic carcinogen with no safe level of exposure. Here, by creating and decorating a structural defect in a metal–organic framework to form MIL-125-Zn, a benzene uptake of 7.63 mmol g^–1 at 1.2 mbar is observed due to binding to Zn(II) sites.

Tissue monolayers avoid rupture at large tensile stresses through a strain-stiffening process governed by intermediate keratin filaments.

The authors realize non-thermal spin switching in a canted antiferromagnet through dynamically modifying the magnetic potential using a strong multicycle terahertz magnetic near field.

In situ and computational methods are used to investigate the nature of the dense liquid phase of calcium carbonate and its transformation to the amorphous phase that is common in biomineralization processes.

Drawing inspiration from the antagonistic muscle structure found in insect wings, the authors develop a light-driven self-sustained oscillator that offers high power output.

Single-phase Na_xV₂(PO₄)₃ compositions obtained by annealing mixtures of Na₃V₂(PO₄)₃ and NaV₂(PO₄)₃ enable the complete electrochemical extraction of Na⁺ through the activation of the V⁴⁺/V⁵⁺ couple. This results in a substantial increase in the energy density of such Na super ionic conductor electrodes when used in sodium batteries.

The optical spin Hall transport of exciton polaritons at room temperature is reported in a perovskite microcavity, which enables them to realize polariton spintronic devices such as a spin-polarized beamsplitter and a polariton spin inverter.

Non-reciprocal charge transport has potential for applications but is usually weak. Here the authors report a room-temperature divergent non-reciprocal Hall effect in devices made of Pt deposited on Si substrates.

Li-rich oxides were found to slowly release considerable quantities of oxygen at varying states of charge. These observations point to the intrinsic instability of oxygen in partially charged oxides and highlight the need for degradation studies.

Geometric packing of tubules in the developing kidney urinary collecting system leads to tissue stiffening and rhythmic mechanical stresses local to nephron-forming niches that synchronize with tubule branching.

Defective platinum diselenide can serve as a highly efficient and stable catalyst for the oxygen reduction reaction outperforming commercial Pt/C catalysts, which is achieved by a restructuring approach via electrochemical cycling.

Zero-elastic-energy modes drive the self-sustained locomotion of a liquid crystal elastomer torus across various environments.

All-solid-state sodium-ion batteries are promising candidates for grid-scale energy storage, but they require superior solid-state electrolytes (SSEs). Here sodium-ion SSEs based on dual-anion frameworks of oxychloride are studied and found to show high ionic conductivity and electrochemical oxidative stability with mechanical softness.

Electrochemical properties of organic mixed ionic–electronic conductors depend on their microstructure in operational ionic environments. The microstructure of a model organic mixed ionic–electronic conductor across multiple length scales in both dry and hydrated states, as well as its evolution on hydration, is revealed using cryogenic four-dimensional scanning transmission electron microscopy.