Nanoscience News (<front>)

Nature Nanotechnology, Published online: 31 March 2025; doi:10.1038/s41565-025-01894-4

A three-site Kitaev chain, constructed from three semiconducting quantum dots coupled by superconducting segments in a hybrid InSb/Al nanowire, shows enhanced robustness of edge zero-energy modes against variations in the coupling strengths or electrochemical potentials compared with a chain containing only two quantum dots.

Nature Nanotechnology, Published online: 31 March 2025; doi:10.1038/s41565-025-01897-1

The authors present a photocatalytic method to selectively oxidize glycerol to hydroxypyruvic acid over rubidium–iridium catalytic pairs on poly(heptazine imides) under visible-light illumination.

Nature Materials, Published online: 31 March 2025; doi:10.1038/s41563-025-02143-8

The uptake of water by polar solids can modify electrical and mass transport properties. This Review discusses hydration mechanisms and surveys case studies of the effects water uptake has on transport properties in different materials.

Title to be confirmed

Abstract not available

• Speaker: Sunoo Park, NYU
• Tuesday 20 May 2025, 14:00-15:00
• Venue: Webinar & LT2, Computer Laboratory, William Gates Building..
• Series: Computer Laboratory Security Seminar; organiser: Anna Talas.

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Multiple resonances thermally activated delayed fluorescence emitter is developed by synergizing multiple charge-transfer excited states, exhibiting excellent photoluminescence properties with a narrowband emission of 21 nm, rapid reverse intersystem crossing rate of 7.8 × 105 s−1 and suppressed concentration quenching, and electroluminescence performances with high maximum external quantum efficiencies and low-efficiency roll-offs in wide doping concentrations ranges of 3–50 wt.%.

Abstract

The development of multiple resonances thermally activated delayed fluorescence (MR-TADF) emitters exhibiting high efficiency, narrowband emission, rapid reverse intersystem crossing rate (k RISC), and suppressed concentration quenching simultaneously is of great significance yet a formidable challenge. Herein, an effective strategy is presented to realize the above target by synergizing multiple charge-transfer excited states, including short-range charge transfer (SRCT), through-bond charge transfer (TBCT), and through-space charge transfer (TSCT). The proof-of-concept emitter 4tCz2B exhibits a bright green emission with a narrow full width at half maximum (FWHM) of 21 nm (0.10 eV) in solution, high photoluminescence quantum yield of 97%, fast k RISC of 7.8 × 105 s−1 and significantly suppressed concentration quenching in film state. As a result, the sensitizer-free organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) achieve maximum external quantum efficiencies (EQEmaxS) of over 34.5% together with an unaltered emission peak at 508 nm and FWHM of 26 nm at doping concentrations ranging from 3 to 20 wt.%. Even at a doping ratio of 50 wt.%, EQEmax is still as high as 25.5%. More importantly, the non-sensitized devices exhibit significantly reduced efficiency roll-offs, with a minimum value of 13.4% at a brightness of 1000 cd m−2.

Energy Environ. Sci., 2025, Accepted Manuscript
DOI: 10.1039/D5EE00237K, PaperKefeng Ouyang, Sheng Chen, Lidong Yu, Hongyu Qin, Ao Liu, Youfa Liu, Quan Wu, Bingjie Ran, Shubing Wei, Fei Gao, Kun Zhang, Jin Hu, Yan Huang
A diverse array of Zn metal batteries (ZMBs) is swiftly emerging as a prominent force in the energy storage sector. The electrolyte modification is integral to improving ZMB performance by...
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Mitigating the Risks of Metastable Failures in Distributed Systems

Teams link—click here

Metastable failures refer to a class of catastrophic system failures that cause a permanent, self-sustaining overload of the impacted system. Distinguishing characteristics of metastable failures are the initial trigger that temporarily overloads the system and the sustaining effect that kicks in due to such overload and keeps the systems in the overloaded state, even after the initial trigger is fixed. Once in this permanently overloaded state, called the metastable failure state, the system is perpetually busy but unable to complete any useful work until drastic manual measures, such as restarting the system, are taken. Metastable failures have led to several prominent cloud outages in recent years.

This seminar explores strategies for mitigating the risks of metastable failures in distributed systems. First, we focus on the practical robustness of algorithms and systems, accounting for the performance cost of fault tolerance and error handling. Then, we look at the importance of identifying and protecting vulnerable components in large distributed systems to tame the sustaining effects and prevent the sustaining mechanisms from developing into a positive feedback loop. Finally, we discuss “metastable failure poisoning”—a feedback mechanism that spreads the failure across seemingly isolated systems or components.

Bio: Aleksey Charapko is an assistant professor at the University of New Hampshire. He received his Ph.D. from the University at Buffalo, working on consensus algorithms and state machine replication. Now, Aleksey is broadly interested in distributed systems’ performance, reliability, and efficiency. Aleksey has received several awards and research grants, most recently an NSF CAREER award for the “metastable failures” research. In addition to his academic endeavors, Aleksey has over a decade of engineering experience ranging from freelance to big tech to consulting.

• Speaker: Aleksey Charapko, University of New Hampshire
• Friday 28 March 2025, 15:30-16:30
• Venue: Computer Lab, FW11 and Online (Teams link will appear before the talk).
• Series: Computer Laboratory Systems Research Group Seminar; organiser: Richard Mortier.

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Energy Environ. Sci., 2025, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/D5EE90031J, Correction Open Access &nbsp This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence.Benjamin K. Sovacool, Dylan Furszyfer Del Rio, Kyle Herman, Marfuga Iskandarova, Joao M. Uratani, Steve Griffiths
To cite this article before page numbers are assigned, use the DOI form of citation above.
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Proline metabolism and the tumour microenvironment – essential lessons from a non-essential amino acid

Why do tumour cells synthesise non-essential amino acids when they are readily available in the microenvironment? This is a question that has led much of our research over the past few years, and brought us to study the metabolism of proline, an amino acid whose synthesis is intertwined with cellular redox homeostasis. In this talk, I will discuss how proline synthesis is important for maintaining mitochondrial redox homeostasis, how this is perturbed by oncogenic mutation and a hostile tumour microenvironment.

• Speaker: Professor Daniel Tennant, University of Birmingham, UK
• Wednesday 16 April 2025, 15:00-16:00
• Venue: MRC MBU, Level 7 Lecture Theatre, The Keith Peters Building, CB2 0XY.
• Series: MRC Mitochondrial Biology Unit Seminars; organiser: Lisa Arnold.

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Energy Environ. Sci., 2025, Accepted Manuscript
DOI: 10.1039/D5EE00669D, Paper Open Access &nbsp This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence.Fanglin Wu, Haolin Tang, Jian Wang, Xilai Xue, Thomas Diemant, Shan Fang, Huihua Li, Ziyuan Lyu, Hao Li, En Xie, Hongzhen Lin, Jae-Kwang Kim, Guk Tae Kim, Stefano Passerini
Nickel-rich layered cathodes suffer from unstable interface and structural collapse, leading to poor cycling stability in conventional carbonate-based electrolytes. Ionic liquid electrolytes promise to enable high-safety and high-specific energy lithium...
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Energy Environ. Sci., 2025, Accepted Manuscript
DOI: 10.1039/D5EE00197H, Review ArticleJiguo Tu, Yan Li, Bokun Zhang, Xiaoyun Wang, Ramachandran Vasant Kumar, Libo Chen, Shuqiang Jiao
High-voltage spinel lithium nickel manganese oxide (LNMO) stand out as a promising cobalt-free cathode material for lithium-ion batteries, due to its low cost, high voltage and energy density capabilities. However,...
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Title to be confirmed

Abstract not available

• Speaker: Speaker to be confirmed
• Wednesday 18 June 2025, 14:00-15:00
• Venue: BAS Seminar Room 1.
• Series: British Antarctic Survey - Polar Oceans seminar series; organiser: Dr Birgit Rogalla.

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Title to be confirmed

Abstract not available

• Speaker: Speaker to be confirmed
• Wednesday 07 May 2025, 14:00-15:00
• Venue: BAS Seminar Room 1.
• Series: British Antarctic Survey - Polar Oceans seminar series; organiser: Dr Birgit Rogalla.

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Title to be confirmed

Abstract not available

• Speaker: Speaker to be confirmed
• Wednesday 04 June 2025, 14:00-15:00
• Venue: BAS Seminar Room 1.
• Series: British Antarctic Survey - Polar Oceans seminar series; organiser: Dr Birgit Rogalla.

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An alcogel-based vertical thermal diode smart wall with interfacial evaporation for ambient thermal energy harvesting and spontaneous cooling/heating supply to the built environment. Owing to the vertical thermal diode structure design, the evaporation-condensation-based smart wall (ECSW) features flexible climate-adaptative heat transfer characteristics with a heat transfer coefficient from 3.33 to ≈30 W m−2 K−1 and building energy savings at 66.47% in Kunming.

Abstract

Traditional building envelopes with constant thermophysical properties constrain their capabilities in temperature regulation. Whether it is possible to achieve single-direction heat transfer along building envelopes with climate-adaptative thermophysical properties to enhance passive heat gain in winter and thermal dissipation in summer? In this work, through the capillary effect in interfacial evaporation and thermal diode structure, single-direction heat transfer with passively adjustable thermal properties in a vertical building envelope is practically achieved. An evaporation-condensation-based smart wall (ECSW) is manufactured for spontaneous and continuous cooling/heating supply to the built environment. The ECSW features climate-adaptative heat transfer characteristics with heat transfer coefficient transiting from 3.33 to ≈30 W m−2 K−1. Additionally, coupling with radiant cooling and photothermal capabilities, ECSW shows excellent thermal performances, i.e., a heat transfer at 5.44 W m−2 by radiant cooling with a 5 °C cooler surface, and a heat transfer at 387.68 W m−2 under solar illumination at 1000 W m−2. Simulation results show that the ECSW enables building energy savings at 66.47% in Kunming. This study first reports vertical thermal diode building envelopes utilizing natural heating/cooling sources through interfacial evaporation for passive temperature regulation with low costs, performance stability and energy-saving potentials for smart and sustainable buildings.

A mixed ionic-electronic conducting 3D host is employed in solid-state batteries to modulate lithium plating and stripping behaviors, which can occur away from the interface to tackle dendrite and void formation issues. In situ electron microscopies and molecular dynamics simulations reveal the Li transport pathways in carbon-based Li metal anodes, which enable faster Li diffusion and high stripping capacity.

Abstract

Solid-state lithium metal batteries (SSLMBs) are now under intensive research for their high energy density and excellent safety. However, the Li transport limitation in Li metal anode (LMA) leads to mass/stress accumulation, dendrite initiation and void formation at the interface, which seriously hinders the development of SSLMBs. Herein, it is demonstrated through in situ electron microscopies that a mixed ionic-electronic conducting (MIEC) 3D host can promote the Li transport in LMA by increasing the diffusion pathways along the carbonaceous framework, carbon/Li interface and Li metal surface, enabling a fast and long-distance (nearly 100 µm) diffusion of Li atoms in LMA. Consequently, the spatio-temporal sequence of Li plating/stripping can be fundamentally changed. Specifically, both deposition and dissolution can occur far away from the interface, thereby mitigating the dendrite and void issues. Impressively, the resulting cells with carbonaceous hosts can achieve excellent cyclability and the highest capacity (28.8 mAh cm−2) so far. This work provides valuable insight for understanding Li transport and deposition/dissolution mechanisms in MIEC host-based LMAs, and a feasible solution for tackling the interface issues without involving stack pressure in SSLMBs.

Biological processes rely on the concerted action of channels with different functionalities embedded in the same membrane. Inspired by nature, heterogeneous nanopore arrays are prepared where two nanopores are connected in parallel and function as two different elements of an ionic circuit: a diode and a resistor. The results provide the basis to design ionic circuits that mimic physiological processes and communication.

Abstract

Much effort in the field of nanopore research has been directed toward reproducing the efficient transport phenomena of biological ion channels. For synthetic nanopores to replicate channel function on the scale of a cellular membrane, it is necessary to consider the modes of crosstalk between channels as well as to develop approaches to prepare nanopore arrays consisting of pores with different transport properties, akin to a membrane in an axon. In this manuscript, first ion concentration polarization (ICP) is identified as the primary means of the crosstalk, and subsequently, the extent and degree of ICP is tuned via targeted chemical modification of the pore walls’ functional groups. Next, two fabrication methods of a model two-nanopore array are presented in a silicon nitride membrane in which one nanopore contains a bipolar ionic junction and functions as an ionic diode, while the other one is a homogeneously charged ionic resistor. The targeted chemical modification of a thin gold layer at the opening of one pore in an array that leaves the other pore located a few tens of nm away, unmodified, is utilized. These results provide an important framework for designing abiotic ionic circuits that can mimic physiological multichannel ion transport and communication.

2D PtSe2 has been demonstrated as high-performance catalyst for electrocatalytic ethanol oxidation. Plasma treatment engineers the surface of single-crystalline PtSe2 by removing Se atoms, resulting in the exposure of PtSe2 (101) facet. Excellent EOR activity and poison-resistance are demonstrated, which is rationalized by in situ electrical transport measurement and theoretical calculations.

Abstract

The development of efficient electrocatalysts for ethanol oxidation reaction (EOR) is crucial for the potential commercialization of direct ethanol fuel cells, yet it faces significant challenges between catalytic performance and cost-effectiveness. 2D materials have recently emerged as a promising group of electrocatalysts due to their large surface area, efficient charge transport, tunable band structures, and excellent catalytic activity. In this study, the novel 2D layered noble-metal dichalcogenide, PtSe2, is explored for efficient ethanol oxidation electrocatalysis from a microscopic perspective based on an on-chip microelectrochemical platform. While pristine PtSe2 demonstrates similar EOR activities to Pt, argon plasma treatment significantly enhances the performance on EOR activity, If/Ib ratio, onset and peak potentials, and durability. Detail investigations reveal that plasma treatment results in the exposure of PtSe2 surface, which is responsible for significantly enhanced EOR activity and poison-resistance as also confirmed by theoretical calculations. In situ electrical transport measurements for monitoring the catalyst surface intermediates, elucidate that both optimized OHads coverage and appropriate ethanol molecular adsorption on PtSe2 are the key for the high performance. This work demonstrates noble-metal dichalcogenides as promising EOR electrocatalysts, and establishes on-chip electrocatalytic microdevice as a promising probing platform for diverse electrocatalytic measurements.

The catalytic cage with carboxyl groups in PEH-COF stabilized the [K(H2O)n]+ ions, which enhanced the PCET kinetics of the conversion for intermediates to methanol, and ultimately allows the PEH-COF to exhibit stable operation at a jCH3OH$\mathrm{j}_{{CH}_3OH}$ of ≈100 mA cm−2.

Abstract

Developing catalysts for electrocatalytic CO2 to CH3OH still faces great challenge due to the involvement of multiple proton-coupled electron transfer (PCET) processes. Molecular phthalocyanine electrocatalysts on carbon nanotubes have achieved production of methanol as the sole liquid-phase product but with the activity and stability far from meeting industrial demands. Herein, phthalocyaninato cobalt is fabricated into covalent organic frameworks PE-COF via polymerization with ellagic acid. Subsequent hydrolyzation of the ester groups in this framework affords COOH/OH-containing PEH-COF, resulting in the successful modulation over the local microenvironment of Co as electrochemical active center and in turn rendering the production of CH3OH with high yield and durability. Experimental and theoretical investigations reveal that construction of the COOH group and H2O participated catalytic cages in PEH-COF can effectively fix hydrated potassium ions, which efficiently enhances the PCET kinetics and lowers the energy barriers for the conversion of CO2 to CH3OH. The partial current density (j) and Faraday efficiency of methanol for PEH-COF could reach 100.9 mA cm−2 and 38.5%, respectively. Moreover, the jCH3OH$\mathrm{j}_{{CH}_3OH}$ of PEH-COF can be maintained at 100.4 mA cm−2 after 9 h of electrocatalysis, superior to the thus far reported catalysts.

Disorder in a crystal is rarely randomly distributed but instead can involve extra chemical order. This could offer a new degree of freedom that is essential to designing materials with emergent properties. This research achieves the continuous regulation of vacancy order from long-range order to short-range order in cation-deficient half-Heusler crystals. Engagingly, various functionalities present significant changes accompanying the evolution of vacancy order.

Abstract

Extra chemical order within periodic crystalline lattices offers a promising approach for designing materials with emergent functionalities. However, achieving tunable extra chemical order in crystalline materials remains challenging. Here, it is found that the vacancy order in cation-deficient half-Heusler crystals V1- δ CoSb can be tuned from long-range order (LRO) to short-range order (SRO), or vice versa. The vacancy LRO and SRO configurations are uncovered by scanning transmission electron microscopy analysis and Monte Carlo simulations. Remarkably, the evolution of vacancy order induces profound changes in electrical, magnetic, and thermal properties, as well as hydrogen storage characteristics. In particular, the electronic density of state effective mass exhibits a nearly threefold increase, while ferromagnetism emerges from infancy when tuning the vacancy order from LRO to SRO. These results elucidate the local chemical order-property relationship and highlight the great potential of achieving desirable functionalities by designing extra chemical order in crystalline solids.