Themed collection Recent Open Access Articles

The range of possible nanostructures is so large and continuously growing, that collating and unifying the knowledge connected to them, including their biological activity, is a major challenge.

For hundreds of years, scientists have magnified images of objects to reveal their detailed composition and structure. Now, scientists are beginning to physically magnify objects themselves.

This review summarizes the advantages of non-fullerene acceptors and their applications in ternary blend organic solar cells.

Antifreeze-protein mimic polymers are shown to enable solvent-free storage of important proteins for therapy and biotechnology by modulating ice growth.

A self-regulated dynamic nanohybrid that can sensitively respond to hyperglycemic microenvironment is developed. The nanohybrid with a core/shell structure is produced through a single-step microfluidics nanoprecipitation method, where drugs-loaded porous silicon (PSi) nanoparticles are encapsulated by H₂O₂ responsive polymeric matrix.

Black phosphorus sponges comprising ultrathin, large and unoxidized nanosheets are prepared and used for an all-solid-state supercapacitor.

Accurate molecular modeling reveal the surprisingly large impact of the solid-state environment on the electron acceptor levels of molecular dopants.

Focused ion beam milling of self-assembled magnetic superstructures is demonstrated as a novel approach to fabricate porous materials with tunable porosity. During exposure to the ion beam, nanoparticles in the superstructure are subjected to combined milling and melting, thus merging together into a porous network.

Controlled reduction of GO thin-films at room temperature with spatial resolution simply by application of a voltage, without the intentional use of electrolytes, has been demonstrated.

The majority of gels exhibit nanoscale spatial variations in crosslink density. We present the first 3D super-resolution microscopy images of dye tagged cross-link distributions in microgels and hydrogels. The morphology of nanoscale features never imaged previously in microgels, are revealed.

An immunological tissue engineering scaffold is fabricated using anti-CD40 antibody grafted in electrospun fibers for inducing cancer cell apoptosis, activating immune response and promoting healthy tissue regeneration.

Solar cells utilising heterojunctions between crystalline silicon and singlet fission materials are a new competitor to silicon tandem cells.

High-resolution 3D printing of intricate graphene aerogel micro-architectures with enhanced mechanical properties at decreasing densities.

The ubiquitous biopigment eumelanin can function as a photocatalytic and photofaradaic material.

A new approach to design hierarchical materials using convolutional neural networks is proposed and validated through additive manufacturing and testing.

Chaotic flows are used to rapidly fabricate densely packed lamellar micro- and nanostructure that is then preserved by curing or photocrosslinking.

Nanophosphor integration in an optical cavity allows unprecedented control over both the chromaticity and the directionality of the emitted light, without modifying the chemical composition of the emitters or compromising their efficiency.

Sudden composite failure under tension can be delayed by a highly ordered nanostructured multilayered nacre mimetic interface applied to carbon fibres by isolating fiber breaks within the composite.

Hydrogel nanofibrous membranes that show visible light-induced disinfection are developed for wound dressing application.

The porous nature and tailorable host–guest interactions of metal–organic frameworks (MOFs), cast into a 1D photonic crystal architecture, provide a versatile platform for specific and selective sorption, which can be exploited for chemo-optical sensing.

A novel three-dimensional (3D) framework with integrated lateral and vertical interfaces, enables the power of 3D strain tuning and improves its electrical transport properties.

Direct photoelectrochemical response of carbon dots (CDs) was attributed to a photogenerated electron-transfer process by CDs under illumination.

Inspired by 3D MAB, we propose a new concept of 2D MBenes, among which MnB metal exhibits stable ferromagnetism (FM) and high Curie temperature.

The first all solid state organic electrochemical transistor based upon the skin pigment melanin.

Combining nanoscale-tip arrays with combinatorial thin film deposition and processing as well as direct atomic-scale characterization (APT and TEM) enables accelerated exploration of the temperature- and environment-dependent phase evolution in multinary materials systems.

Rationally designed meta-implants were found to create compression along both of their contact lines with the surrounding bone, thereby decreasing the chance of bone–implant interface failure (Hoffman's criterion) and wear particle-induced osteolysis, and improving bone ingrowth.

A three-component nanocapsule-based system allows monitoring the health cycle of coatings via autonomous visual highlighting of damages and reversible erasing through healing.

The luminescence from both ends of a ZnO nanorod grown via a corrosion process is significantly different.

Fused deposition modeling (FDM) enables simultaneous programming and production of thermo-responsive shape-shifting materials.

Tetrazole–ene click chemistry was used to prepare fully biodegradable protein nanocarriers with high drug encapsulation and enzymatically-triggered intracellular release.

A general method to produce a variety of free-standing asymmetric MOF hybrid membranes and superstructure arrays on different substrates was developed.

The generalized Einstein relation (GER) can unify various theoretical models and predict charge transport in OSCs with various crystallinities, by altering the variance of the density of states and the delocalization degree in a Gaussian-distributed density of states.

In situ crystallization of hard templates composed of salt leads to one dimensional porous nitrogen doped carbons in one step.

We show the fabrication of autonomous soft hydrogel alginate-based objects, namely fibres and beads. They have an individually programmed time delay in their response to a shared environmental stimulus and the ability to communicate when in close proximity to one another.

A duplexed 2D glycosheet has been developed for the simultaneous identification of the dual receptor specificity of a single influenza virus strain in a homogeneous solution.

Self-transfer of chiral information was found in the magnesiothermic reduction of amorphous chiral SiO₂ nanofibers into crystalline Si.

The general concept of adjustable isotropic and anisotropic thermal conductivity in biphasic materials is demonstrated by freeze-casting polyurethane foams.

A family of cationic, record quindecim {15+} charged [(Er, Ho, Tm)₅(C₂H₅-Im-CH₂COO)₁₆(H₂O)₈](Tf₂N)₁₅ magnetic ionic liquids has been synthesized and fully characterized.

Response polymer gates are employed to enable external control of glycan expression on the surface of multivalent nanoparticles.

Binary crystalline solids via solution casting under rapid drying conditions were found to show efficient triplet–triplet annihilation upconversion by suppressing the segregation of the components.

Poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) is formed inside a metal–organic framework (MOF). MOF removal leads to sub-millimetre structures of the nanostructured conducting polymer.