Linking in situ charge accumulation to electronic structure in doped SrTiO₃ reveals design principles for hydrogen-evolving photocatalysts

Nature Materials, Published online: 11 January 2021; doi:10.1038/s41563-020-00868-2Understanding the origin of unprecedented solar-to-hydrogen efficiencies in doped SrTiO3 has proved challenging. Linking in situ charge accumulation to electronic structure in this system now reveals design principles for hydrogen-evolving photocatalysts.

6d

Tuning electrochemially driven surface transformation in atomically flat LaNiO₃ thin films for enhanced water electrolysis

Nature Materials, Published online: 11 January 2021; doi:10.1038/s41563-020-00877-1Structure–activity relationships built on descriptors of surfaces can help to design electrocatalysts, but their identification for electrochemically driven surface transformations is challenging. The composition of LaNiO3 thin film surfaces can now dictate surface transformation...

6d

Unfavourable interactions enable stability

Nature Materials, Published online: 11 January 2021; doi:10.1038/s41563-020-00889-xUse of polymer and small-molecule semiconductors with relatively poor miscibility helps the long-term stability of the morphology and photovoltaic performance of bulk heterojunction films used in organic solar cells.

6d

Restriction boosts piezoelectricity

Nature Materials, Published online: 11 January 2021; doi:10.1038/s41563-020-00890-4Large reversible shear strain has been achieved by electric-field-driven bipolar switching in a hybrid ferroelectric, facilitating development of shape-memory-type actuators with outstanding figures of merit.

6d

Direct imaging of atomistic grain boundary migration

Nature Materials, Published online: 11 January 2021; doi:10.1038/s41563-020-00879-zThe atomic process of grain boundary migration has been directly observed by scanning transmission electron microscopy, revealing transformations between different stable or metastable grain boundary structures.

6d

A molecular interaction–diffusion framework for predicting organic solar cell stability

Nature Materials, Published online: 11 January 2021; doi:10.1038/s41563-020-00872-6Studies on the morphology stability of polymer donor–small-molecule acceptor blends relevant to solar cell stability reveal relationships between their intermolecular interactions and the thermodynamic, kinetic, thermal and mechanical properties.

6d

Living materials with programmable functionalities grown from engineered microbial co-cultures

Nature Materials, Published online: 11 January 2021; doi:10.1038/s41563-020-00857-5A symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast is used to fabricate bacterial cellulose-based living materials that respond to external cues and adapt their structural and functional properties, with implications for sensing and catalytic applications.

6d

Ferroelastic-switching-driven large shear strain and piezoelectricity in a hybrid ferroelectric

Nature Materials, Published online: 11 January 2021; doi:10.1038/s41563-020-00875-3Reversible strains are widely used in high-technology systems, with piezoelectrics showing fast response but low strain. Here, ferroelectric C6H5N(CH3)3CdCl3 is shown to produce a strain of 21.5%, two orders of magnitude larger than other piezoelectrics, due to organic...

6d

Linking in situ charge accumulation to electronic structure in doped SrTiO₃ reveals design principles for hydrogen-evolving photocatalysts

6d

Tuning electrochemially driven surface transformation in atomically flat LaNiO₃ thin films for enhanced water electrolysis

6d