Many layered materials, such as graphene and transition metal dichalcogenides, can be exfoliated down to atomic or molecular monolayers. These materials exhibit exciting material properties that can be exploited for several promising device concepts. Thinner materials lead to an increased surface-to-volume ratio, with mono- and bi-layers being basically pure surfaces. Thin crystals containing more

The ability to simultaneously predict the microstructure and bulk material properties of 3D printed (additively manufactured or AM) metals is critical to the development of process intelligence that can be used by a digital-twin for forecasting and optimising alloy composition and fabrication parameters. This study proposes a simulation framework for predicting the microstructure and corresponding

Single atom catalysts (SACs), featured by atomically-level distributed active sites on supports, provide an ideal platform in the fields of energy conversion, and mimic metalloprotease for bridging the gap between natural enzymes and single atom nanozymes by virtue of their maximum atom utilization efficiency, superior selectivity and outstanding catalytic performance. In this review, the recent progress

Despite structural and processing-induced imperfections, wafer-scale chemical vapor deposited (CVD) graphene today is commercially available and has emerged as a versatile form that can be readily transferred to desired substrates for various nanoelectronic and spintronic applications. In particular, over the past decade, significant advancements in CVD graphene synthesis methods and experiments realizing

This article provides a review of quantitative annular dark-field imaging in the scanning transmission electron microscope, paying particular attention to the methods of image quantification, and the application of quantitative data, including the use of density functional theory calculations, to relate the properties of nanomaterials to atomic-level structure.

Single-layer hexagonal boron nitride is produced on 2 inch Pt(111)/sapphire wafers. The growth with borazine vapor deposition at process temperatures between 1000 and 1300 K is in situ investigated by photoelectron yield measurements. The growth kinetics is slower at higher temperatures and follows a tanh2 law which better fits for higher temperatures. The crystal-quality of hexagonal boron nitride

Among various piezoelectric materials, ZnO has attracted a great deal of attention due to facile preparations and exceptional semiconductor characteristics compared to other conventional piezoceramics or organic piezoelectric materials. One of the issues hindering ZnO from progressing into applications is the screening effect, where the intrinsic piezopotential generated upon mechanical deformations

Topical administration of various therapeutic factors at different stages of healing has the potential to enhance wound healing rates and reduce pain of chronic wounds. Here, the potential of utilising therapeutic fibres as wound dressings and/or sutures, is demonstrated by wet-spinning graphene oxide (GO) and aspirin adsorbed GO with polyvinyl alcohol, into drug eluting composite fibres. By varying

The past decade has seen rapid advances in direct detector technology for electron microscopy. Direct detectors are now having an impact on a number of techniques in transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy, and scanning TEM (STEM), including single particle cryogenic electron microscopy, in situ TEM, electron backscatter diffraction, four-dimensional STEM, and electron

Using machine learning methods to analyse and predict events occurring at interfaces is more complicated than applying machine learning to participating entities, such as adsorbates and adsorbents separately. Whether combining molecular or materials descriptors, or explicitly defining the topology of the space in between, the choice of features is critical to successfully understanding the potential

Multi-Weyl semimetals are variations of Weyl semimetals characterized by isolated band touching points, each carrying multiple topological charges. Given a plethora of exotic transport properties arising in such systems, it remains a longstanding interest to explore other variations of these semimetal phases. Of particular significance are hybrid multi-Weyl semimetal phases where various isolated band

A key requirement for the exploitation of two-dimensional (2D)-crystals in the field of composites relies on their large-scale production. In this respect, liquid phase exfoliation of layered-crystals is emerging as one of the most promising approaches for the scalable production of high-quality 2D-crystals. However, the dependence of the 2D crystal flakes morphology, i.e. thickness and lateral size

The polymer PffBT4T-C9C13 (poly[(5,6-difluoro-2,1,3-benzothiadiazole-4,7-diyl)[3,3'''-bis(2-decyltetradecyl)[2,2':5',2'':5'',2'' -quaterthiophene]-5,5'''-diyl]]) produces organic solar cells of >11% efficiency with both fullerenes and non-fullerenes. We present a comprehensive morphology and spectroscopy study of this polymer and its blends, focusing on atomic force microscopy, x-ray diffraction, and

Two-dimensional black phosphorus (BP) has layer-dependent band gap, high specific surface area, moderate carrier mobility, excellent photothermal effect, inherent photoacoustic properties, excellent biodegradability and biocompatibility, making it an ideal option for applications in biomedicine such as photothermal therapy, disease diagnosis, biological imaging and so on. Despite of these advantages

The M–N–C catalysts are considered potential alternative to Pt-based catalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) due to its low cost and promising electrocatalytic performance. However, the catalysts are yet to become truly applicable in terms of activity and stability, and addressing such issues necessitate for indepth understanding in the structure performance relationship, which is remain

Theranostic nanoparticles (NPs) which provide both therapeutic and diagnostic capabilities have potential to fundamentally change biomedical sciences and improve disease diagnostics and therapy. This review summarizes the recent advances in the development of ceria NPs (CeNPs) therapeutics with combined free radical scavenging activity and biosensing functions as a promising class of theranostic probes

Reliable electrochemical testing protocols assessing the catalytic performance of novel materials, such as the rotating disk electrode method to determine the oxygen reduction reaction activity, play an essential role in the knowledge-based design of tailored electrocatalysts. However, these techniques are unable to accurately predict the performance of the developed electrocatalysts in membrane electrode

The addition of a third component to a donor:acceptor blend is a powerful tool to enhance the power conversion efficiency of organic solar cells. Featuring a similar operating mechanism, organic photodetectors are also expected to benefit from this approach. Here, we fabricated ternary organic photodetectors, based on a polymer donor and two nonfullerene acceptors, resulting in a low dark current of

The chemical vapour sensing behaviour of pristine and variously modified hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) nanostructures was investigated towards the polar protic analyte in the form of ammonia. Morphological characterization with TEM revealed formation of well-define shaped and crystal sized hBN flakes (2.9 0. 7 m to 3.3 0.3 m) by using a low temperature and atmospheric pressure modified polymer derived

Computational modeling of additively manufactured structures plays an increasingly important role in product design and optimization. For laser powder bed fusion processes, the accurate modeling of stress and distortion requires large amount of computational cost due to very localized heat input and evolving complex geometries. The current study takes advantage of a graphics processing unit accelerated

The development of highly conductive and safe electrolytes for sodium-ion batteries is an emerging field beyond lithium battery technologies. In this work we have developed new ionogel electrolytes consisting of a binary mixture of an organic ionic plastic crystal, N-ethyl-N-methylpyrrolidiniumbis(fluorosulfonyl)imide (C2mpyrFSI), mixed with NaFSI supported on a mat of electrospun poly (vinylidene

Sustainable, renewable and scalable production of highly pure hydrogen gas through hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) in electrochemical water splitting requires efficient and stable electrocatalysts. Single atom catalysts (SACs) with significant merits such as the maximum atom-utilization efficiency, unique electronic structure and fascinating properties, are considered as promising candidates electrocatalysts

The digital twin (DT) is a relatively new concept that is finding increased acceptance in industry. A DT is generally considered as comprising a physical entity, its virtual replica, and two-way digital data communications in-between. Its primary purpose is to leverage the process intelligence captured within digital models—or usually their faster-solving surrogates—towards generating increased value

Transition metal sulfides have been widely used as anode electrodes of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) and sodium-ion batteries (SIBs) due to its high theoretical capacity and low price. However, problems of huge volume expansion and poor conductivity during charging and discharging have been emerged. Herein, we design a N, C-co-doped, nano-sized, and hollow carbon-coated ZnS (ZnS-NC@C) composite using

Piezoelectrics are key materials for energy conversion, for example in ultrasound transducers and energy harvesters. This work presents the synthesis and characterization of the lead-free piezoelectric composition (Li0.06(K0.52Na0.48)0.94)(Nb0.71Ta0.29)O3 doped with 0.25 mol% Mn (KNNLTM) as textured ceramics. Templated grain growth from NaNbO3 platelet templates aligned by tape casting was used to

In a recent contribution, we introduced a new approach for the quantitative prediction of the micellar morphology of aqueous solutions of ionic surfactants based on coarse-grained MARTINI-type simulations followed by reverse-mapped all-atom (AA) molecular dynamics (MD) ones, using as a model system sodium dodecyl sulfate. We make use of the same approach in the present work to study the micellar structure

Luminescence is the premise for humans and even all creatures in the world to survive, as well as a crucial means for humans to interact with the environment. Recently, triboelectrification-induced electroluminescence (TIEL) has been applied in anti-counterfeiting, real-time vision sensor, human/machine interactive system, as well as self-powered illumination and display, thus attracting significant

According to data released by the World Health Organization, more than one billion people in the world experience some form of disability, in which they face all kinds of inconveniences. As a practical tool to help people with disabilities participate in social life, assistive devices for the people with disabilities play an important role in their daily lives. As an effective electromechanical signal

We present our recent development of an integrated mesoscale digital twin (DT) framework for relating processing conditions, microstructures, and mechanical responses of additively manufactured (AM) metals. In particular, focusing on the laser powder bed fusion technique, we describe how individual modeling and simulation capabilities are coupled to investigate and control AM microstructural features

The evolution of low-dimensional materials has frequently revolutionized new intriguing physical standards and suggests a unique approach to scientifically design a novel device. However, scaling down of spin-electronic devices entails in-depth knowledge and precise control on engineering interfacial structures, which unveils the exciting opportunity. To reveal exotic quantum phases, atomically thin

We report exceptionally large tunnel magnetoresistance (TMR) for biomolecular tunnel junctions based on ferritins immobilized between Ni and EGaIn electrodes. Ferritin stores iron in the form of ferrihydrite nanoparticles (NPs) and fulfills the following roles: (a) it dictates the tunnel barrier, (b) it magnetically decouples the NPs from the ferromagnetic (FM) electrode, (c) it stabilizes the NPs

To produce multi-dopant ferrite nanoparticles, the ‘Extended LaMer’ and seed-mediated growth techniques were combined by first utilizing traditional thermal decomposition of metal acetylacetonates to produce seed particles, followed by a continuous injection of metal oleate precursors to increase the volume of the seed particles. With the choice of precursors for the seeding and dripping stage, we

The orthorhombic γ-black phase of CsPbI3 is well-known to be unstable at room temperature and strategies are needed to counteract its transformation tendency. In this paper we compare γ-black CsPbI3 thin films (∼80 nm) formed via two different routes: a fast quenching of the cubic α-phase from 325 C (HT-γ) or spontaneously cooling the layer from 80 C (LT-γ). The successful application of the second

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) has been clinically applied to cure various diseases including cancer. Indeed, photophrin (porfimer sodium, Axcan Pharma, Montreal, Canada), a heterogenous mixture of porphyrins, was the first photosensitizer (PS) approved for the treatment of human bladder cancer in 1993 in Canada. Over the past 10 years the use of PDT in the treatment of benign and malignant lesions has

For biologically relevant macromolecules such as intrinsically disordered proteins, internal degrees of freedom that allow for shape changes have a large influence on both the motion and function of the compound. A detailed understanding of the effect of flexibility is needed in order to explain their behavior. Here, we study a model system of freely-jointed chains of three to six colloidal spheres

Triboelectric devices capable of harvesting ambient mechanical energy have attracted attention in recent years for powering biomedical devices. Typically, triboelectric energy harvesters rely on contact-generated charges between pairs of materials situated at opposite ends of the triboelectric series. However, very few biocompatible polymeric materials exist at the ‘tribopositive’ end of the triboelectric

Semi-transparent solar cells are the next step for photovoltaics into our daily life. Over the last years, kesterite-type material has attracted a special attention to be used as an absorber in thin-film solar cells because of its low toxicity and earth abundant constituents. Here, Cu2ZnGeSe4 (CZGSe) thin films are grown by co-evaporation and subsequent annealing at a maximum temperature of 480 C or

Since 2009, metal halide perovskites have attracted a great deal of attention in different optoelectronic applications, such as solar cells, photodetectors (PDs), light-emitting diodes, lasers etc, owing to their excellent electrical and optoelectrical properties. However, since the discovery of graphene, atomically thin 2D materials have been the central focus of materials research due to its exciting

Carbon-based materials have become indispensable in the field of electrochemical applications, especially for energy storage or conversion purposes. A large diversity of materials has been proposed and investigated in the last years. In this mini-review, we present recent advances in the design of carbon-based materials for application in vanadium redox flow batteries. As main part, different modification

Using an 8-band model it is demonstrated through the combination of strain and piezoelectricity that increasing the InN quantum-well thickness of a GaN-InN-GaN device changes the InN material from a positive bandgap semiconductor to a topological insulator (negative bandgap). Moderate strain tuning of a four monolayer InN layer for a GaN-InN-GaN device reveals a giant (one order of magnitude) tuning

A patterned structure of monolithic hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) on a glass substrate, which can enhance the emission of the embedded single photon emitters (SPEs), is useful for onchip single-photon sources of high-quality. Here, we design and demonstrate a monolithic hBN metasurface with quasi-bound states in the continuum mode at emission wavelength with ultrahigh Q values to enhance fluorescence

This paper provides a pedagogical introduction to recent developments in geometrical and topological band theory following the discovery of graphene and topological insulators. Amusingly, many of these developments have a connection to contributions in high-energy physics by Dirac. The review starts by a presentation of the Dirac magnetic monopole, goes on with the Berry phase in a two-level system

Designing electrocatalysts from the perspective of modulating electronic structure and morphology has received considerable research interest in enhancing the electrocatalytic performance for oxygen evolution reaction (OER). In this work, nickel–iron based sulfides were synthesized through a one-pot hydrothermal approach which is characterized as defect-rich Ni9S8/Fe5Ni4S8 heterostructured nanoparticles

Surface traps significantly influence the charge carrier dynamics within semiconductor nanocrystals, introducing non-radiative exciton recombination channels which are detrimental for their applications. Understanding the nature of these trap states and modulating them synthetically bears immense potential in designing defect-free colloidal semiconductor nanocrystals for efficient optoelectronic devices

Additive manufacturing (AM) as a highly digitalized manufacturing technology is capable of the implementation of the concept of the digital twin (DT), which promises highly automated and optimized part production. Since the DT is a quite novel concept requiring a wide framework of various technologies, it is not state of the art yet, though. Especially the combination with artificial intelligence (AI)

Sodium-ion batteries offer a low-cost sustainable alternative to current lithium-ion batteries and can be made on the same manufacturing lines. The sustainability arises from the low cost, reduction in the use of critical elements and strategic materials, and potential long-life. To maximize their potential, higher energy density batteries are required, this can be achieved in part through the stabilization

The era of two-dimensional (2D) materials, in its current form, truly began at the time that graphene was first isolated just over 15 years ago. Shortly thereafter, the use of 2D hexagonal boron nitride had expanded in popularity, with use of the thin isolator permeating a significant number of fields in condensed matter and beyond. Due to the impractical nature of cataloguing every use or research

We report an experimental study of the structure of polymer-capped gold nanorods (AuNRs) binding to model phospholipid monolayers to elucidate the mechanism that drives the insertion of the AuNRs into phospholipid membranes. The experimental system consists of four different cases of AuNRs interacting with lipid monolayers: cationic and anionic polymer-capped AuNRs suspended in the pure water subphase

Sodium ion batteries are widely considered to be a feasible, cost-effective, and sustainable energy storage alternative to Lithium, especially for large-scale energy storage applications. Next generation, safer electrolytes based on ionic liquid (IL) and organic ionic plastic crystals (OIPCs) have been demonstrated as electrochemically stable systems which show superior performance in both Li and Na

Responsible disposal and recycling are essential for the sustainability of the battery market, which has been exponentially growing in the past few years. Under such a scenario, the recycling of materials of less economic value, but environmentally much more sustainable like LiFePO4, represents an economic challenge. In this paper an approach to recover used FePO4 electrodes from calendar aged Lithium-ion

Developing electrocatalysts that can completely oxidize ethanol oxidation is critical for commercializing direct ethanol fuel cells. Here, we tailored synthesis of mesoporous PdBi films by employing an electrochemical-assisted micelle assembly approach. The as-prepared film exhibited superior electrocatalytic activity and stability toward ethanol oxidation reaction, which is promising forpractical

Metal additive manufacturing (AM) presents advantages such as increased complexity for a lower part cost and part consolidation compared to traditional manufacturing. The multiscale, multiphase AM processes have been shown to produce parts with non-homogeneous microstructures, leading to variability in the mechanical properties based on complex process–structure–property (p-s-p) relationships. However

Quantum materials are central for the development of novel functional systems that are often based on interface specific phenomena. Fabricating controlled interfaces between quantum materials requires adopting a flexible growth technique capable to synthesize different materials within a single-run deposition process with high control of structure, stoichiometry, and termination. Among the various

Serious challenges in energy and the environment require us to find solutions that use sustainable processes. There are many sustainable electrocatalytic processes that might provide the answers to the above-mentioned challenges, such as the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), water splitting, the carbon dioxide reduction reaction (CO2RR), and the nitrogen reduction reaction (NRR). These reactions can

Electron energy loss (EEL) spectroscopy carried out within a (scanning) transmission electron microscope can provide chemical and bonding information with atomic resolution. The information that lies within the spectrum can be difficult to extract, and often reference spectra are used to identify atomic bonding environments. First principles simulations are able to relate features in spectra to atomistic

The electrochemical performance of negative active materials employed in sodium-ion batteries is dependent on the amount of Na+ available in the test cells. As such, electrodes that exhibit long cycle-life and high coulombic efficiency (CE) in half-cells could suffer from fast capacity fading in full-cells as a result of unstable solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) and mechanical degradation leading

Artificial intelligence (AI) technologies are accelerating the rapid innovations of multifunctional micro/nanosystems for boosting significant applications in flexible electronics, human healthcare, advanced robotics, autonomous control, and human–machine interfaces. III-nitride semiconductors, e.g. GaN, AlN, InN, and their alloys, exhibit superior device characteristics in high-performance opto-/electronics

Alloying enables engineering of the electronic structure of semiconductors for optoelectronic applications. Due to their similar lattice parameters, the two-dimensional semiconducting transition metal dichalcogenides of the MoWSeS group (MX2 where M = Mo or W and X = S or Se) can be grown as high-quality materials with low defect concentrations. Here we investigate the atomic and electronic structure

Single-atom catalysts have attracted widespread attention in recent years due to their high atom utilization and excellent catalytic performance, particularly, in oxygen electrocatalysis. Herein, we report to use ZIF-8 as precursor, which was annealed and subsequently mixed with melamine and transition metal salt to finally synthesize Cu-atoms modified N-doped carbon (NC) catalysts, which exhibited

Mechanically flexible electronics are devices designed to operate under significant physical deformations such as bending, twisting, and stretching. While the materials systems and devices compatible with flexible substrates have been extensively studied, the mathematical framework for analysis remains identical to that of traditional planar silicon-based electronics. However, the non-planar and dynamic