Themed collection Popular Advances

This perspective reports on recent progress toward the development of an approach to a priori predict - both chirality “strength” and efficacy of chirality transfer from a chiral nanoshape solute to an achiral nematic environment.

Vitrimers: one step towards a greener future for the composite industry?

This review concisely elaborates the advancement from stretchable toward autonomous self-healable semiconducting polymers owing to their long-term use and enhanced reliability, maintenance, and durability for modern thin-film transistor devices.

This review describes the methods to prepare self-assembled silk fibroin hydrogels with a focus on gelation mechanisms and biomedical applications.

Random lasers are a particular class of optical devices where the optical feedback is provided by scattering media. In this review, we discuss recent progress and prospects of random lasers using advanced materials.

Electrically conductive bone scaffolds composed of carbon-based conductive materials are proposed as promising biomaterials for bone tissue engineering solutions.

Recent developments in eco-friendly synthesis, cancer theranostic applications, and biocompatibility/cytotoxicity issues of CNTs are discussed, with emphasis on important challenges and future perspectives.

Schematic representation of metal halide double perovskite and the different features described in the review.

Hydrogen-bonded organic frameworks (HOFs) are crystalline porous polymers which are formed by the interaction of hydrogen bonding among building blocks. Unique advantages of HOFs, enabling new platforms for exploring multifunctional applications.

A review article regarding ultrasound-triggered drug delivery, highlighting exciting clinical trials and new applications for this modality.

Photocatalysis with nanostructured semiconductors is emerging for environmental remediation.

Hydrogel-based solar water purification technology has been recognized as a promising alternative to existing energy-intensive technologies. This is a timely review of the recent 3 years, focusing on design principles and remaining challenges.

Recent progress in atomic-scale TEM characterization of structural heterogeny in 2D TMD layers is overviewed. The prospects of visualization techniques are assessed toward atomic-scale identification and manipulation of defects and heterointerfaces.

This review presents the main techniques employed to construct chiral plasmonic materials and metasurfaces, in particular using soft-chemistry approaches, and discusses some applications of these nanostructures.

The “core–shell” nanostructures can break the strongly coupled electronic and thermal parameters and help achieve high thermoelectric (TE) performance.

Tuning the coefficients of thermal expansion (CTE) of polymeric materials through a combination of zinc cyanide and ionic liquid.

We have found that the electrical properties of an organic charge transfer salt are qualitatively affected by slight differences in the conformation of one of the ethylene groups, which is not involved in the conduction pathways.

A novel core–shell imidazole@MOF@COF proton conductor is constructed using UiO-67 and TAPB-DMTP-COFs.

Y-zeolites were exchanged with biologically active ions for release in a sustained manner allowing different responses of MC3T3-E1 osteoblasts to be induced.

A polyester-based biodegradable material with antibacterial properties that can be used as a ureteral stent.

A quasi 2D Ruddlesden–Popper perovskite, (PEA)₂Cs₄Pb₅Br₁₆ exhibits superior third-order nonlinear optical properties, which is promising for the development of ultrafast photonic devices.

Rutherford back scattering technique can be used to investigate ion migration in halide perovskites.

The effect of solvent ingress on additive manufacturing is reported.

MWCNTs composite with UiO-66-NH₂ MOF doped with Ni(II) ions produced a highly efficient heterogeneous electrocatalyst for the water oxidation reaction.

Organometal halide perovskites (OHPs) exhibit great potential in memristors and artificial synaptic devices.

Vulnerability to atmospheric conditions and their associated toxicity limit the practical/industrial use of perovskites despite their tremendous promise in optoelectronics.

To achieve a 20 Gbps data rate using the upcoming 5G communication standard, it is crucial to recognize a domain wall (DW) velocity (v_DW) of 1200 m s⁻¹.

Light driven crystal actuators, where bending direction and speed are controlled by crystal thickness and light wavelength, are fabricated.

Molten salt CO₂ capture and electrochemical transformation (MSCC-ET) has been proposed as a sustainable synthetic method for Mn nanocrystalline inclusions in a graphitic matrix, which paves the way to new methods to produce composite materials.

Use a single memristive perovskite solar cell device for performing both solar energy harvesting and light-triggered synaptic functionalities.

In this study, a new type of single-molecule white luminescence is presented. This luminescence is accomplished by dual emission from two different stacking patterns having different overlapping areas in the crystal.

ZnO nanoleaves with high surface-to-volume ratio and more exposed polar facets produced via multistage hydrothermal synthesis showed high photodetection properties.

Metal-free redox flow batteries with TEMPO-based polypeptide catholytes and viologen-based polypeptide anolytes were demonstrated. Post-cycling analysis indicated the main source of capacity fade was degradation of the redox-active pendant groups.

A simple route to highly sulfonated hypercrosslinked polymers: low-cost and tunable heterogeneous catalysts.

A Design of Experiments approach was used to optimise synthesis of core@shell SPION@silica nanoparticles. Multiple linear regression analyses established relationships between the applied experimental variables and resulting particle properties.

An electrostatic manipulation method has been presented by directly mixing oppositely charged noble metal nanoparticle solutions to prepare the corresponding noble metal hydrogels without introducing additional reagents.

Quasi-Fermi-level splitting in molecular semiconductor alloys was studied.

This study demonstrates that nanocellulose can be used in zinc electrodeposition to promote the formation of more suitable deposits for efficient metal recycling.

Nb₂CT_x MXene oxidation is stopped using APTES functionalization. Amino groups help in sensing acidic NO₂ gas.

The toxicity of lead halide perovskites hinders their application in optoelectronics. Lead-free Cs₂AgBiBr₆ is regarded as a promising candidate due to its excellent photoelectric properties.

SrTiO₃ and aluminum-doped SrTiO₃ are synthesized by calcination of metal salts dissolved in a deep eutectic solvent (DES) without any post-synthesis treatment.

Phenothiazine is a p-type cathode that follows the anion pairing mechanism, where the electrode undergoes extensive expansion and contraction during cycling, which deleteriously affects the battery performance.

A comparative study was performed with five new and one known TMA-TEMPO derivatives, to elucidate the structure–stability relationship of the TEMPO scaffold and to investigate the influence on the battery performance.

In an effort to design deep-blue light emitting materials for use in OLEDs, the optical and electronic properties of a series of tetraarylbenzobis[1,2-d:4,5-d′]oxazole (BBO) cruciforms were evaluated using density functional theory (DFT) and time-dependent DFT (TD-DFT).

We describe a simple and versatile one-pot method to obtain highly emissive and stable discrete mesoporous organometallo-silica nanoparticles with different surface functionalization and their use as luminescent biomarkers.

Naphthalene diimides have electrochromic applications due to their highly stable dark reduced state along with a transparent colourless neutral state. Here we show the morphology of aggregated structures at different pHs has a greater influence on the chromic properties than the chemical structure.

Direct observation of valence electron density reflecting orbital degrees of freedom on partially filled degenerate orbitals.

New triazine-based linker used to cross-link PEI into an unsupported adsorbent with high CO₂ uptake at ambient temperature.

The Curie temperature increases from an intrinsic value of 266 K to 353 K when the biaxial tensile strain of 2.3% is applied to the monolayer MnSe₂ magnetic substrate, but the valley splitting of MoTe₂ remains as large as 72 meV.

The advancement of unique, organic materials possessing exclusive solid-state photoluminescence properties is in high demand due to their noteworthy contribution to materials chemistry and technology.

An adsorption study of dipeptides onto different Zr-based metal–organic frameworks (Zr-MOF) unravelled key parameters affecting peptide-MOF interactions in aqueous conditions, and provides unique molecular insights for future designs.

A rapid, facile, green and controllable electrodeposition method is reported for the growth of SeO_x films on the surface of Ni–Fe–selenide nanosheets, which are used as highly active and stable electrocatalysts for the OER.

2D particle surfactants are attractive for the formation of highly stable emulsions and use as templates to prepare composite structures with performance properties dependent on the composition.

The photoactivity of rhombic dodecahedral Cu₂O with dominant {110} facets is superior to that of cubic Cu₂O with {100} surfaces partly owing to the improved charge separation and carrier mobility.

Altering the CaO to ZnO ratio of alkali borosilicate glass, in favour of ZnO, causes phase separation with hardystonite-like (Ca₂ZnSi₂O₇) and willemite-like (ZnSi₂O₄) structures identified. This is concurrent with increased glass durability.

Coordination networks that undergo guest-induced switching between nonporous and porous phases are of increasing interest as the resulting stepped sorption isotherms can offer exceptional working capacities for gas storage applications.

The honeycomb-like HS-Te-NiCo-LDH/NiO/NF electrode gave an ultralow overpotential of 221 mV at 10 mA cm⁻² as OER electrocatalyst with prolonged stability and a high specific capacity of 650 C g⁻¹ for aqueous supercapacitor in 1 mol L⁻¹ KOH solution.

Green solvent mixes are applied in printed mesoscopic perovskite solar cells and modules, achieving 13.8% PCE at 1 cm² and >9% PCE in a 220 cm² module. This shows how green solvent engineering can aid improvement and scale-up in emerging technologies.

We have fabricated n-type silicon solar cells using ALD deposited vanadium oxide as the front transparent contact.