Themed collection Recent Open Access Articles

In this minireview, we discuss the progress of polymersome formulations towards clinical translation and highlight key opportunities and challenges.

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.

Automated Glycan Assembly produces well-defined oligosaccharides for detailed structural characterization. These glycans can assemble into supramolecular materials with different morphologies.

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.

The electron transport layer plays an essential part for high-performing perovskite solar cells, on which successful extraction of charges from light harvester and the transfer to the electrode are critically dependent.

Lignin-based smart materials are emerging into advanced material applications as stimuli-responsive actuators, sensors, controlled release systems, and more.

Poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrene sulfonate), PEDOT:PSS, has been widely used as an effective hole transporting material in many different organic semiconductor devices for well over a decade.

Trivalent erbium, Er³⁺, with its 4f¹¹ electronic configuration, was the first lanthanide cation for which linear upconversion could be induced in a molecular complex. The reasons for this success and its perspectives are discussed in this review.

A systematic comparison between electrochemical and organic bioelectronic sensors reveals a unified rational description for a transistor amplified detection.

The present review highlights the combination of graphitic carbon nitride and polymers for materials with outstanding properties.

The recent surge of scientific interest for lead halide perovskite semiconductors and optoelectronic devices has seen a mix of materials science sub-fields converge on the same “magical” crystal structure.

A review on the recent developments in controlling the structural, photophysical and electronic properties of conjugated porous polymer (CPP) photocatalysts is presented.

A comprehensive review on designs and mechanisms of semiconducting metal oxides with various nanostructures for room-temperature gas sensor applications.

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

We demonstrate a giant magnetoelectric effect in perpendicularly magnetized Pt/Co/Ta ultrathin films on a ferroelectric substrate.

An n-type, accumulation mode, microscale organic electrochemical transistor monitors the activity of a pore-forming protein integrated into a lipid bilayer.

Durable hydrophobic coatings are created by adding amphiphilic Janus particles to binder polymers through the unique self-stratification behaviours, which offer a novel and cost-effective solution to challenges in waterborne emulsion coatings.

Multi-information source Bayesian optimization and how it can be used to capture relevant information from cheap approximations to accelerate research in the materials sciences.

Our work demonstrates the local enhancement of antiferromagnetic phase stability in FeRh films by strain nanopatterning.

The article reports that graphene oxide nanosheets (s-GO), by interfering with synapses, have the potential to be used as behavioural modulators.

Light-emitting diodes with an inkjet-printed active layer based on MAPbBr₃ perovskite are produced for the first time.

This work presents a new family of bio-hybrid light-emitting diodes (Bio-HLEDs) using all-bio color down-converting coatings that combine silk fibroin (SF) as a packaging matrix and fluorescent proteins (FPs) as emitters.

The origin of line-widths of electro-luminescent charge-transfer states in photovoltaic blends is evaluated and discussed in terms of vibrational theory.

Saline-tolerant PISA synthesis is developed, to generate poly(vinyl alcohol) based nanoparticles, which are potent ice recrystallisation inhibitors.

Photochromic microresonator arrays with whispering gallery mode fingerprints are successfully prepared, which function as high-security optical authentication microdevices.

Depth-resolved structural analysis reveals strong size selectivity of self-assembled iron oxide nanoparticles.

Molecules with silent orbitals deliver high thermoelectric performance.

We demonstrated strong full-space modulation of visible intensities based on Fano resonances in all-dielectric VO₂ metasurface gratings.

The crystallization and film formation of organic semiconductors are controlled by the meniscus shape during meniscus guided coating for field-effect transistors.

We report a microfluidic approach for superfast melanin-like nanoparticle preparation with tunable size and monodispersity.

We use chemical force microscopy with high spatiotemporal resolution to study the nanoscale distribution of hydrophobicity on living mycobacterial cells.

We introduce a nature-inspired coating for SEM imaging of hydrated soft biomaterials by aerobic oxidation of polyphenols.

Using vibrational sum frequency generation (VSFG) spectroscopy, we investigate the behaviour of organic cations at the surface of a series of multilayer lead halide perovskite systems, finding that the behaviour of the organic cations changes dramatically close to the interface.

Gas-MacEtch of Si with a Pt catalyst allows vertical etching nanostructures with an extreme aspect ratio up to 10 000 : 1.

The air–water interface can be textured according to the same self-assembly packing criteria that determine the wealth of 3D structures found in micellar and other amphiphilic meso-phases.

We show a novel concept for the design of graphene-based materials via diazonium-mediated functionalization and subsequent laser treatment for flexible electronics.

This study demonstrates that controlling intra-cluster ligand interactions is important to obtain an assembled structure with the desired connecting structures.

A new method is proposed to determine charge diffusion coefficient and transfer velocity to extraction layers. Hole diffusion coefficient in MAPbI₃ is constant between 10¹⁶ – 10¹⁷ cm⁻³, a hallmark of band transport but overall extraction is interface limited.

Click-crosslinked microperiodic hydrogels scaffolds from polymer melts: soft but surprisingly robust.

A novel nano-thermometer composed of butter and AIE molecules can be used for intracellular temperature mapping using fluorescence lifetime imaging.

A tri-thiol bio-inspired ligand triggers thiol-mediated silver nanoparticle assemblies. This novel nanomaterial delivers an amount of Ag(I) sufficient for biocidal activity but no release of AgNPs that makes it a safer solution for future applications.

Herein a method is proposed for engineering the electronic properties of diamond via surface hybridization with graphene.

Bio-inspired chiral nematic cellulose films with periodic surface grating structures exhibit optically programmable photonic–photonic coupling.

Semiconductors made of earth-abundant elements, such as zinc phosphide, have the potential to substitute less abundant, highly functional compound semiconductors such as InAs or InP.

The charge distributions of solvent exposed surfaces of complex biomolecules such has proteins are unique fingerprints.

Superior transparent conducting properties of indium oxide realised by molybdenum donors resonant in the conduction band, avoiding detrimental effects of tin doping.

Due to the excellent electrical transport properties and optoelectronic performance, thin indium selenide (InSe) has recently attracted attention in the field of 2D semiconducting materials.

Patterning evaporated silver and copper films without metal removal using extremely thin printed organofluorine films to modulate metal vapour condensation.

Reversible post-synthetic modification of H₃Sb₃P₂O₁₄ nanosheet-based thin films by applying a facile two-step amine intercalation over the vapor phase.

Bilayer WSe₂ nuclei were initially grown along the atomic steps of a sapphire substrate, resembling a “graphoepitaxial mechanism” and gradually formed into overlapped 2H stacked WSe₂ bilayers.

Scintillators detect ionising radiation by converting energy deposited in them to a proportional number of photons. They are omnipresent in large-scale technical applications around us. Here, we report excellent scintillation properties of perovskites at low temperatures providing the potential for a new generation of cryogenic scintillators. One intriguing option would be replacing current medical scintillation detectors with cryogenic perovskites that could achieve higher imaging resolutions, for example for diagnosing early-stage brain cancer.

The quantification of the electronic transport energy gap of a molecular semiconductor is essential for pursuing any challenge in molecular optoelectronics.

A pronounced and tunable negative piezoelectric effect in a family of organic small-molecular ferroelectrics is demonstrated and explained.

An interactome network analysis reveals functional intervention of TGFβ signaling by nanodiamonds, which diminishes cancer metastasis, tumor-associated macrophage recruitment and M2 macrophage polarization.

VOPc maintains an “oxygen-up” orientation and its spin on graphene is S = 1/2: this is an interesting system for qubit applications.

Photograph of the experimental setup with light diffracting from a racemic nanoarray. The diffracted spectra change depending on the direction of circularly polarized illumination.

Femtosecond electron diffraction is established as goniometer of ultrafast nanocrystal rotations.

A new group of two-dimensional layered materials with intrinsic ferroelectricity and antiferroelectricity are identified through first-principles calculations.

Wireless piezoelectric microrobots are biomedical devices with a potential use in high-precision minimally invasive therapies.

The hydrogenation mechanism in a Pd–Si–Cu metallic glass nanofilm, and its post-characterization by chronoamperometry/cyclic voltammetry and HR(S)TEM analyses.

We harnessed buckling which was once considered the epitome of design failure to develop mechanical metamaterials for soft robotic applications.

Biologically inspired biomaterial interface design can regulate the behaviors of pathogens and immunocytes for “infection combination therapy”.

Nanotopography was utilized to coat previously hardest-to-reach surfaces and to bypass issues related to traditional vapor deposition methods.

Micropatterns of functional protein are important in biotechnology and research.

By means of single-cell force nanoscopy we show that sophorolipid biosurfactants feature unusually strong antiadhesion properties against nosocomial pathogens involved in catheter-related infections.

Hole polaron delocalization on polymer chains helps charge separation by lowering the free energy of the spatially separated charge pair.

MOFs have demonstrated outstanding properties for the protection and controlled release of different bio-entities, from proteins to living cells.

Advances in solution-phase graphene patterning has provided a facile route for rapid, low-cost and scalable manufacturing of electrochemical devices, even on flexible substrates.

Laminated multifunctional bacterial cellulose nanocomposite with a millefeuille topographic distribution of inorganic nanoparticles.

MOF-based heterogeneous catalysts with enhanced dispersibility and photocatalytic property are realized via introducing pollen pivots.