Nanoscience News (<front>)

Host: Maike de la Roche, CRUK

Note unusual time

• Speaker: Clair Gardiner, Professor in Immunology, Trinity College Dublin
• Thursday 04 December 2025, 16:00-17:00
• Venue: CRUK CI Lecture Theatre.
• Series: Cambridge Immunology Network Seminar Series; organiser: Liat Churley.

Add to your calendar or Include in your list

An effective post-synthetic modification strategy utilizing [4+4] cycloaddition is demonstrated to fabricate ladder-branched polyimides of intrinsic microporosity (PIM-PIs) with significantly enhanced performance characteristics for membrane-based gas separation.

Advancements in membrane-based gas separation have the potential to address global challenges related to energy and the environment. However, new membrane materials must have excellent separation performance, stability, and processability, and simultaneously achieving all three metrics is extremely challenging. To circumvent these issues, a post-synthetic modification of polyimides of intrinsic microporosity (PIM-PIs) synthesized with a UV light (UV)-reactive anthracene co-monomer is reported. UV irradiation on the PIM-PI solution converts the anthracene units into dianthracene linkages by [4+4] cycloaddition, while the resultant PIM-PI is still solution-processable due to the branched structure. The ladder-like dianthracene moieties significantly increased both microporosity (<20 Å) and ultramicroporosity (<7 Å) of the precursor PIM-PI. Notably, the UV-treated PIM-PI membrane exhibits a large boost in pure-gas CO2 permeability by up to 260%, reaching 376 barrer, while maintaining CO2/CH4 ideal selectivity of 35 at 1 bar. Moreover, the developed membrane material has enhanced stability against physical aging and plasticization and showcases excellent CO2/CH4 mixed-gas selectivity (>30 up to 31 bar feed pressure), which surpasses the 2018 mixed-gas upper bound.

Long-lived room temperature phosphorescent adhesives are developed via water-induced polymer chain reorganization. Their long-lived room temperature phosphorescent properties are extremely stable and can be long-term maintained, and can be employed to non-destructively and precisely monitor the sticking status.

Polymer materials with long-lived room temperature phosphorescence (RTP) are promising because they are easy to process to fit broad luminescent events. However, these systems typically rely on polar groups to form hydrogen or ionic bonds to confine chromophores to produce long-lived RTP. Such interactions are susceptible to moisture, which greatly limits the stability of such materials and their luminescent signals. Here, long-lived RTP adhesives are developed by random copolymerization of a trace amount of chromophores into polyacrylic acid. For these polymers, a water-induced polymer reorganization can be observed at room temperature to form protective confined regions for chromophores, resulting in an afterglow lifetime up to 3 s, with a high moisture tolerance threshold. The strategy is applicable to diverse chromophores, resulting in RTP with a wide range of tunable emission colors. Meanwhile, these polymers are soluble in water and can be used as removable adhesives. The long-lived RTP can be employed to monitor sticking status non-destructively and precisely, which can inspire the development of high-performance RTP polymers for unprecedented practical applications.

This study introduces a tilted solar evaporation membrane with a cracked metal–phenolic coating for simultaneous water and oil recovery from emulsions. The cracked coating can optimize water supply pathways on the membrane and modulate water-water interactions, leading to a high evaporation rate. Tilted design prevents oil droplet adhesion and realizes oil collection, ensuring durable performance for continuous operation.

While solar-driven interfacial evaporation (SDIE) presents a sustainable solution for water purification, its application to challenging oily wastewater has been severely limited by inadequate water transport, oil-fouling-induced evaporation attenuation, and the inability to efficiently recover oil. To overcome these fundamental barriers, a novel tilted photothermal membrane featuring cracked metal–phenolic networks (C-MPNs) integrated with an oil collector for simultaneous solar-driven recovery of both water and oil from emulsions is introduced. Through synergistic material and interfacial engineering, the unique C-MPNs structure enhances water evaporation by dual mechanisms: 1) modulating water–water interactions via tannic acid molecules and 2) optimizing water transport pathways via engineered cracks. This design achieves a high evaporation rate of 2.86 kg m−2 h−1, ranking among the top-performing photothermal membranes. Critically, the network of cracks generates abundant submicron gates that selectively intercept oil droplets. Coupled with the tilted configuration, this system actively transports intercepted oil upward for efficient capture (90.6% recovery) while concurrently mitigating membrane fouling. Remarkably, the integrated system maintains an unprecedented evaporation rate of 2.6 kg m−2·h−1 for soybean oil-in-water emulsions with zero attenuation over 42 h of continuous operation. Extended outdoor testing over 23 days confirms exceptional operational stability and sustained, high-efficiency dual-resource recovery.

Amorphous FePO x enables superior Ca2+ storage through an internal-to-surface adaptive mechanism. Liberated from crystalline constraints, its flexible framework “volume breathing” effectively accommodating volume changes during Ca2+ cycling. During Ca2+ extraction, vacancies condense into nanopores that migrate to the surface, driven by thermodynamic imperatives to minimize energy. This self-optimization creates a textured, curvature-rich interface with continuously evolving ion pathways.

Calcium-ion batteries (CIBs) offer a promising candidate within multivalent-ion batteries (MVIBs), but their advancement is impeded by the lack of cathode materials capable of efficiently accommodating large Ca2+ with rapid kinetics. Here, this study demonstrates how amorphous FePO x effectively liberates Ca2+ storage from such lattice restrictions by virtue of its inherently disordered and flexible framework, unveiling an adaptive storage mechanism in two distinct yet correlated aspects. First, its amorphous network not only revives electrochemical activity but also provides more open and isotropic ion transport pathways compared to rigid crystalline structures, enabling superior internal Ca2+ accommodation and yielding the optimal Ca2+ diffusion coefficient (3.24 × 10−9 cm2 s−1) among the current CIBs inorganic cathode materials. Then, this inherent structural flexibility within the amorphous network further enables dynamic surface self-optimization process of amorphous FePO x via void migration from Ca2+ extraction. The evolving surface morphology provides more Ca2+ adsorption sites, enhancing decalciation/calciation kinetics. This synergistic adaptation yields a high capacity (124.3 mAh g−1 at 20 mA g−1), exceptional cyclability (92.1 mAh g−1 at 100 mA g−1 after 1000 cycles), and high rate (≈76% retention rate when increasing from 20 to 300 mA g−1), demonstrating the broad advantages of amorphous architectures for advanced MVIBs.

Ambient-pressure superconductivity persisting over 100 days is achieved in 11.8 nm LaPr2Ni2O7 films grown on SrLaAlO4 substrates. Structural and transport analyses reveal spontaneous formation of a protective (La,Pr)4Ni3O10-dominant surface phase (>10 nm from the interface) that stabilizes superconductivity. Additional ex situ amorphous oxide capping further enhances ambient stability, marking a significant advance toward durable bilayer nickelate superconductors.

The recent observation of ambient-pressure superconductivity in compressively strained (La,Pr)3Ni2O7 films marks a significant advance in nickelate superconductivity research. However, their fabrication remains challenging, with reported thickness limited to <6.6 nm and pronounced ambient degradation. In this study, LaPr2Ni2O7 films with nominal thicknesses ranging from 3.5 to 23.5 nm are fabricated. Superconductivity is observed in all samples, with a maximum onset transition temperature (T c) of 44 K. No systematic correlation between T c and film thickness is identified. Angle-dependent T c measurements under external magnetic fields and vortex anisotropy analysis indicate 2D superconductivity in all samples. Structural and transport measurements show that superconductivity in LaPr2Ni2O7 is confined to within 10 nm of the interface, while thicker films develop a protective (La,Pr)4Ni3O10 surface layer that enhances stability. Ex situ amorphous oxide capping layers further suppress superconducting degradation, yielding 10-fold stability enhancement in ultrathin films (3 ≈ 4 nm) and prolonging stability from 30 to more than 100 days in thicker films.

This study presents a twist-assisted healing flexible NO2 sensor by integrating Au/Pd&PEDOT@rGO on PU nonwoven. The sensor achieves ultra-sensitive detection, rapid response, and exceptional humidity resistance, as well as good mechanical robustness. Remarkably, fractured sensors restore functionality via twist-assisted healing. Integrated into wearable devices, it enables real-time gas monitoring in harsh conditions.

A twist-assisted healing flexible sensor for ultrasensitive and selective detection of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) at room temperature is developed by sequentially introducing the reduced graphene oxide (rGO) onto polyurethane (PU) nonwovens as the conducting medium, followed by decoration with the Au/Pd nanoparticles (NPs) and polythiophene (Au/Pd&PEDOT) composites as the pivotal sensing layer. The optimized Au/Pd&PEDOT@rGO@PU sensor exhibits outstanding performance across a wide NO2 concentration range (0.1–800 ppm), demonstrating improved sensitivity (≈27% to 1 ppm), rapid response /recovery characteristics (7 s/38 s), ultralow detection limit (2 ppb), and exceptional selectivity at 28 °C. Such superior NO2 sensing can be ascribed to the synergistic effect: the outer PEDOT coating exposes numerous sensing sites, the Au/Pd NPs exert excellent catalysis, and the rGO framework accelerates the charge transfer. More importantly, the sensor demonstrates remarkable mechanical properties, including good robustness, twist-assisted healing capability, and superior water resistance. Combining scalable fabrication, straightforward construction, and competitive detection metrics, this flexible sensor represents a promising platform for real NO2 monitoring applications.

15 quinary L12-type Pt3M(4) high-entropy intermetallic compounds are designed, train a deep neural network to predict hydrogen adsorption energies across 20 000 microstates per composition, and establish a novel statistical evaluation framework by quantifying microstates within the active range. Site-specific analysis reveals that surface Co, Cr, and Fe optimize Pt-Pt-M sites, while subsurface Ni and Co modulate Pt-Pt-Pt configurations.

Rational design of high-entropy intermetallic compounds (HEICs) remains challenging due to complex structure-property relationships and the lack of predictive tools. Here, a data-driven framework is presented to evaluate the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) activity of L12-type quinary Pt3M(4) HEICs, where M comprises any four elements from six 3d transition metals (Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Zn). Guided by the Pm-3m space group, 15 distinct compositions with numerous microstates are designed. A deep neural network, trained on 453 computed datasets, predicts hydrogen adsorption energy (∆E H*) across 20 000 microstructures per composition, enabling statistical mapping of site-specific performance. To capture the effect of local atomic environments, a novel statistical evaluation approach is introduced that quantifies the number of microstates falling within the optimal ∆E H* range, advancing beyond conventional mean-based evaluations. Among all candidates, Pt3(CrMnFeCo) emerges as the most promising HER catalyst, validated experimentally over a wide pH range. Further in-depth data mining reveals that surface Co, Cr, and Fe optimize Pt-Pt-M sites, while subsurface Ni and Co modulate Pt-Pt-Pt interactions. This study establishes a new paradigm for HEIC catalyst design and deepens the mechanistic understanding of activity origin in complex multimetal systems.

Abstract not available

• Speaker: Eyal Kolman (Microsoft)
• Friday 24 October 2025, 12:00-13:00
• Venue: Hybrid (In-Person + Online). Google Meet Link: https://meet.google.com/yeu-pqce-rsn.
• Series: NLIP Seminar Series; organiser: Suchir Salhan.

Add to your calendar or Include in your list

Despite massive investments in training large language models, tokenizers remain a critical but often neglected component with weaknesses that can cause wild hallucinations, bypass safety guardrails, and break downstream applications. This talk will cover:

Our recent research in automatically detecting problematic ‘glitch’ tokens in any model

Fundamental issues with pretokenizers and their design

Novel approaches to encodings and pretokenization that address some of these problems.

Speaker Bio Sander Land is a researcher at Writer, previously working at Cohere. He completed his PhD at the Department of Computer Science, University of Oxford, before undertaking a postdoc at Biomedical Engineering, King’s College London, University of London.

• Speaker: Sander Land (Writer)
• Friday 17 October 2025, 12:00-13:00
• Venue: SS03 Hybrid (In-Person + Online). Google Meet: https://meet.google.com/yeu-pqce-rsn .
• Series: NLIP Seminar Series; organiser: Suchir Salhan.

Add to your calendar or Include in your list

Many fascinating phenomena occur when a submanifold of higher codimension is evolved by its mean curvature vector. Much of the structure of hypersurface flows is absent in this more general setting e.g. embeddedness and mean-convexity fail to be preserved. Consequently, even in the simplest cases (closed curves in 3-space, surfaces in 4-space) many basic questions remain unanswered. I will describe some of these, and present recent developments concerning singularity formation from joint works with Nguyen and Bourni—Langford.

• Speaker: Stephen Lynch (King's College London)
• Monday 24 November 2025, 14:00-15:00
• Venue: MR13.
• Series: Geometric Analysis & Partial Differential Equations seminar; organiser: Giacomo Ageno.

Add to your calendar or Include in your list

Abstract not available

Host - Charlotte Houldcroft

• Speaker: Dr Katrina Lythgoe from Department of Biology, University of Oxford
• Thursday 27 November 2025, 14:00-15:00
• Venue: CANCELLED.
• Series: Genetics Seminar ; organiser: Caroline Newnham.

Add to your calendar or Include in your list

Abstract

Foundation models allow the rapid evaluation of downstream tasks with task-specific training. In recent months, it has become increasingly possible to use off-the-shelf coding AIs to write even moderately complex code. In this talk, I will discuss my use of Claude code and the Tessera foundation model for evaluating the above ground biomass in an urban reforestation project, highlighting areas where AI worked well, and where it still falls short.

Bio

Srinivasan Keshav is the Robert Sansom Professor of Computer Science at the University of Cambridge, focusing on the intersection of computer science and sustainability. He earned his PhD from UC Berkeley and has held roles at Bell Labs, Cornell University, and the University of Waterloo. A Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, ACM , and IEEE , Keshav is recognized for his contributions to networking and sustainability. His research includes innovations in energy systems, carbon footprint reduction, and forest conservation using remote sensing. Keshav emphasizes practical applications of computer science to global challenges, fostering collaborative solutions in smart grids and biodiversity conservation.

• Speaker: Srinivasan Keshav, University of Cambridge
• Friday 17 October 2025, 13:00-14:00
• Venue: Room GS15 at the William Gates Building and on Zoom: https://cl-cam-ac-uk.zoom.us/j/4361570789?pwd=Nkl2T3ZLaTZwRm05bzRTOUUxY3Q4QT09&from=addon .
• Series: Energy and Environment Group, Department of CST; organiser: lyr24.

Add to your calendar or Include in your list

As neutrino oscillation experiments enter a high-statistics era with the construction of DUNE and Hyper-Kamiokande, achieving a precise understanding of how neutrinos interact with matter is becoming increasingly crucial. In current long-baseline experiments such as T2K , electron neutrino appearance is measured to produce constraints on the charge-parity asymmetry in neutrino oscillations. Among the contributing channels, charged-current pion production, although subdominant, is an important process which has substantial implications on our oscillation results. This talk will explore the significance of this channel and present brand new results of a cross-section measurement of this process on a carbon target using the near detector of the T2K experiment, ND280 .

The corresponding DOI of this new result can be found at: https://doi.org/10.1103/klhv-7t6h

• Speaker: Nicholas Latham, King's College London
• Tuesday 11 November 2025, 11:00-12:00
• Venue: Ray Dolby Center -- Seminar Room: D2.002 .
• Series: Cavendish HEP Seminars; organiser: Dr Paul Swallow.

Add to your calendar or Include in your list

Reticular frameworks (RFs) such as metal–organic frameworks, covalent organic frameworks, and hydrogen-bonded organic frameworks offer versatile platforms for polymer materials innovation, enabling regulated polymerization, efficient macromolecular purification, and polymer functionalization. This review highlights recent achievements and prospects in creating advanced polymers using RFs, paving the way for next-generation functional materials.

This review article aims to explore the innovative applications of reticular frameworks (RFs), particularly metal–organic frameworks, covalent organic frameworks, and hydrogen-bonded organic frameworks, for the development of advanced polymers. RFs, characterized by their crystalline porous structures and tunable properties, have significant advantages in polymer production and functionalization, improving their synthetic efficiency, structural regularity, stability, conductivity, mechanical properties, and overall performance through a combination of structural characteristics. Ordered nanopores in RFs act as structural scaffolds, guiding polymerization with spatial precision and enabling control over polymer structures and arrangement. RFs exhibit exceptional potential for macromolecular recognition and separation, affording scalable platforms for highly selective polymer processing and purification. Synergistic coupling of reticular chemistry with polymer engineering opens new avenues for the design of next-generation functional materials. Herein, recent developments in the synthesis of polymers in RFs, the separations and recognitions of polymers by RFs, and RF–polymer hybrids are evaluated, which further present a forward-looking perspective. The rapid progress in this field has led to breakthroughs in both fundamental science and materials applications, promoting future investigations to expand their potential in creating advanced polymer materials.

A touch-driven nested optical encryption system is proposed via a bi-chiral superstructure. Structural colors and vectorial holography are combined with precise control of Bragg reflection to encode information in multiple optical dimensions. A four-step decryption process involving human touch enables interactive access. This advances on-demand construction of chiral superstructures, and opens a new way for high-security and high-capacity optical informatics.

With the growing demand for data security, optical encryption has emerged as a promising solution due to its high-speed, parallel and low-power-consumption characteristics. However, most optical encryption methods rely on static structures involved with only few optical degrees of freedom (DOFs), resulting in simple encryption methods susceptible to attacks. Herein, a dynamic nested optical encryption scheme is proposed using a touch-driven bi-chiral cholesteric liquid crystal (CLC) superstructure, where relief-structured polymerized CLCs are combined with temperature-sensitive opposite-handed CLCs. Through delicate photopatterning and Bragg reflection engineering, independent geometric phases can be induced to the reflected light with orthogonal circular polarization and multiple wavelengths. Thus, various optical DOFs (wavelength, amplitude, and polarization) and environmental factors (temperature or human-device interaction) are encoded as different encryption dimensions. Based on the developed four-step encryption algorithm, the four-level nested encryption is demonstrated by multiplexing the plaintext and multilevel ciphertexts in structural colors, multicolored vectorial holography and their temperature-driven variations. The plaintext can be derived only through a specific order, with the final step completed by a human touch. This work advances the on-demand construction of chiral nanostructures, and offers a new paradigm for high-security and high-capacity optical informatics.

This work designs a hybrid hygroelectric generator with enhanced electricity generation by synergistic water transport and ion migration in the multilayer structure. The device achieves a high voltage above 1.4 V in a wide range of humidity (0–85%) and an ultra-high current of 1.15 mA (4.6 mA·cm−2) at 85% relative humidity.

Hygroelectricity, converting chemical potential energy of abundant moisture from the atmosphere into electricity, is one of the most promising technologies in the development of next-generation sustainable energy. Here, a uniquely designed hygroelectric generator is proposed with a stable self-maintained water gradient and enhanced electricity generation by synergistic water transport in the multilayer structure, which boosts voltage and current outputs simultaneously as well as demonstrates a low environmental reliance. The devised multilayer structure facilitates charge separation of functional groups and boosts interfacial reactions with top electrodes, which first enabled a high voltage above 1.4 V in a wide range of humidity (0–85%) and an ultra-high current of 1.15 mA (4.6 mA·cm−2) at 85% relative humidity due to hybrid energy contribution. The rechargeable moisture battery is achieved based on a hygroelectric generator and delivered a high Coulombic efficiency of 106%. The hygroelectric devices with high outputs are integrated into the self-powered systems to charge a commercial mobile phone and achieve wearable human activity monitoring. Therefore, this work opens a bright prospect in achieving extremely high outputs with a low environmental reliance for sustainable energy generation systems.

A new class of poly(thioester amide) adhesives is facilely synthesized via spontaneous ring-opening copolymerization of N-alkyl aziridine and glutaric thioanhydride. In particular, the polymer with rigid benzyl side groups exhibits high-performance adhesion to diverse substrates, along with excellent reusability and resistance to low temperatures and water, offering a sustainable alternative to conventional adhesives in line with circular economy principles.

Despite significant advancements in adhesive technology, developing adhesives that combine strong adhesion with reusability remains a formidable challenge. Current commercial adhesives often fail under cold or humid conditions, highlighting the need for next-generation systems with enhanced environmental resilience and reusability. In this study, a facile and robust polymer adhesive is developed and synthesized via the spontaneous, catalyst-free ring-opening copolymerization (ROCOP) of N-alkyl aziridine and glutaric thioanhydride (GTA). The resulting cyclic alternating poly(thioester amide)s (PTEAs), particularly P(AzBn-GTA) derived from N-benzylaziridine (AzBn) and GTA, exhibit versatile adhesion across various substrates, including dissimilar materials, with a maximum adhesion strength of 17.8 MPa on steel. By introducing multiple interaction sites and tailoring side groups, a well-balanced combination of cohesive and interfacial adhesion energies is achieved, conferring the polymers with exceptional elasticity and toughness. Moreover, the incorporation of flexible backbones and hydrophobic moieties imparts remarkable resistance to ultralow temperature and water. Reversible adhesion is demonstrated through simple heating and cooling cycles, with stable performance maintained over 10 reprocessing cycles. Overall, the high performance and reusability of P(AzBn-GTA) surpass those of previously reported adhesives, positioning it as an advanced and sustainable alternative aligned with circular economy principles.

Concrete materials and structures have been in the spotlight regarding an urging need to decarbonise as part of the holistic effort to achieve net zero in the built environment by 2050. Traditionally, the concrete construction industry has been operating in a fragmented way, under which within the design space, materials specifiers and structural engineers would operate in isolation whilst similar was the case for collaboration between designers, contractors and manufacturers. Nevertheless, there is much potential that remains untapped from lack of interdisciplinary collaboration across the value chain. While several opportunities exist for collaboration improvement towards efficiency and carbon reduction in materials and structures, this paper focuses on design aspects that could be improved through an interdisciplinary approach. Through certain case studies, it is demonstrated why is important to apply total design approaches, combining structural optimisation with improved materials specification and how such practice can lead to significant savings in structural embodied carbon.

• Speaker: Fragkoulis Kanavaris, Arup
• Wednesday 12 November 2025, 15:00-16:00
• Venue: CivEng Seminar Room (1-33) (Civil Engineering Building).
• Series: Engineering Department Structures Research Seminars; organiser: Lowhikan.

Add to your calendar or Include in your list

Adhesive bonding is a widely used joining technique across various industries and is particularly common in composite structures within the construction sector, especially for the repair and strengthening of existing infrastructure. Extensive research has been conducted to understand the behaviour of fibre-reinforced polymer (FRP) to concrete and FRP to steel bonded joints, leading to well-established design methodologies for such interfaces in civil engineering applications.

Previous studies have shown that bonded interfaces are subjected to complex stress states, and numerous theoretical models—with varying levels of simplification—have been developed to predict interfacial stresses. These models, along with numerical approaches, have been used to estimate key parameters governing the performance and failure of bonded joints, including debonding modes.

While there is broad consensus on several aspects such as bond strength, effective bond length, and bond–slip relationships, discrepancies remain regarding interfacial stress distributions, behaviour under cyclic loading, and response under elevated temperatures. Moreover, ongoing debate surrounds the suitability of homogenization approaches, such as traction–separation laws, in accurately capturing the behaviour of bonded interfaces.

In this talk, I will provide a critical review of existing research on FRP -to-concrete and FRP -to-steel bonded joints. The discussion will cover their behaviour under quasi-static monotonic loading, cyclic loading, and combined mechanical–thermal loading. Interfacial stress models and the appropriate use of homogenization techniques in modelling bonded interfaces will also be critically examined.

• Speaker: Dilum Fernando, University of Edinburgh
• Friday 14 November 2025, 15:00-16:00
• Venue: CivEng Seminar Room (1-33) (Civil Engineering Building).
• Series: Engineering Department Structures Research Seminars; organiser: Lowhikan.

Add to your calendar or Include in your list