Materials science articles from across Nature Portfolio

Rolling two-dimensional materials into one-dimensional nanoscrolls unlocks tunable emergent properties; however, existing methods rely on external forces. Now, intrinsically driven scrolling in polar two-dimensional materials mediated by out-of-plane electric polarization is reported, establishing a platform for the design of functional nanoscrolls.

The scalable fabrication of perovskite solar cells is hindered by the uneven deposition of perovskite colloidal particles during printing. Now, introduction of a mechanically interlocked network into the precursor ink to construct a three-dimensional network immobilizes the particles, regulating their rheological behaviour and enabling uniform deposition of large-area films.

A stable ‘frequency comb’ of photons with discrete colours has been generated on a microscale chip by removing copper contaminants from the circuit.

Multimodal operando imaging reveals how multiscale structural design affects lithiation heterogeneity and electrochemical cycling stability in graphite/silicon composite battery electrodes.

Performance of solid-state triplet fusion upconversion films is enhanced by surface plasmons, intensity threshold is reduced by a factor of 17 and external quantum efficiency is enhanced by a factor of 19. A white-emitting organic light-emitting diode featuring upconverted blue emission—rather than blue electroluminescence—is demonstrated, with a colour rendering index of up to 86.2.

Mechanical metamaterials with large strain zero Poisson’s ratio are crucial for applications needing dimensional stability under deformation. Here, the authors develop a 3D zero Poisson’s ratio metamaterial employing shape-optimized helical ligaments, demonstrating reduced stress concentrations and substantial elastic deformation, confirmed by experiments, making it ideal for adaptive actuators and energy-absorbing systems.

A fast and scalable sensor using a core–shell nanowire network is reported to capture multimodal information through memristive switching.

Scientists ‘draw’ crystal patterns using laser light.

Rolling two-dimensional materials into one-dimensional nanoscrolls unlocks tunable emergent properties; however, existing methods rely on external forces. Now, intrinsically driven scrolling in polar two-dimensional materials mediated by out-of-plane electric polarization is reported, establishing a platform for the design of functional nanoscrolls.

The scalable fabrication of perovskite solar cells is hindered by the uneven deposition of perovskite colloidal particles during printing. Now, introduction of a mechanically interlocked network into the precursor ink to construct a three-dimensional network immobilizes the particles, regulating their rheological behaviour and enabling uniform deposition of large-area films.

An article in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces reports a 3D-printed, metal–organic framework-coated respiratory filter that both allows airflow and catalytically destroys chemical warfare agents.

A stable ‘frequency comb’ of photons with discrete colours has been generated on a microscale chip by removing copper contaminants from the circuit.

A recent study proposes using a single neural network to model and compute a wide range of solid-state materials, demonstrating exceptional transferability and substantially reduced computational costs — a breakthrough that could accelerate the design of next-generation materials in applications from efficient solar cells to room-temperature superconductors.