Jungki Min, Seong-Min Bak, Yuxin Zhang, Mingyu Yuan, Nicholas F. Pietra, Joshua A. Russell, Zhifei Deng, Dawei Xia, Lei Tao, Yonghua Du, Hui Xiong, Ling Li, Louis A. Madsen, Feng Lin
{"title":"Investigating the effect of heterogeneities across the electrode|multiphase polymer electrolyte interfaces in high-potential lithium batteries","authors":"Jungki Min, Seong-Min Bak, Yuxin Zhang, Mingyu Yuan, Nicholas F. Pietra, Joshua A. Russell, Zhifei Deng, Dawei Xia, Lei Tao, Yonghua Du, Hui Xiong, Ling Li, Louis A. Madsen, Feng Lin","doi":"10.1038/s41565-025-01885-5","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41565-025-01885-5","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Polymer electrolytes hold great promise for safe and high-energy batteries comprising solid or semi-solid electrolytes. Multiphase polymer electrolytes, consisting of mobile and rigid phases, exhibit fast ion conduction and desired mechanical properties. However, fundamental challenges exist in understanding and regulating interactions at the electrode|electrolyte interface, especially when using high-potential layered oxide active materials at the positive electrode. Here we demonstrate that depletion of the mobile conductive phase at the interface contributes to battery performance degradation. Molecular ionic composite electrolytes, composed of a rigid-rod ionic polymer with nanometric mobile cations and anions, serve as a multiphase platform to investigate the evolution of ion conductive domains at the interface. Chemical and structural characterizations enable the visualization of concentration heterogeneity and spatially resolve the interfacial chemical states over a statistically significant field of view for buried interfaces. We report that concentration and chemical heterogeneities prevail at electrode|electrolyte interfaces, leading to phase separation in polymer electrolytes. Understanding the hidden roles of interfacial chemomechanics in polymer electrolytes enables us to design an interphase tailoring strategy based on electrolyte additives to mitigate the interfacial heterogeneity and improve battery performance.</p>","PeriodicalId":18915,"journal":{"name":"Nature nanotechnology","volume":"131 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":38.3,"publicationDate":"2025-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143744799","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"When relaxor films go ultrathin","authors":"Di Yi, Ce-Wen Nan","doi":"10.1038/s41565-025-01875-7","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41565-025-01875-7","url":null,"abstract":"Revealing the intrinsic size effect on relaxor ferroelectric films is crucial for informed device engineering for high-density energy storage or acoustic actuators.","PeriodicalId":18915,"journal":{"name":"Nature nanotechnology","volume":"19 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":38.3,"publicationDate":"2025-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143744798","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Alberto Bordin, Chun-Xiao Liu, Tom Dvir, Francesco Zatelli, Sebastiaan L. D. ten Haaf, David van Driel, Guanzhong Wang, Nick van Loo, Yining Zhang, Jan Cornelis Wolff, Thomas Van Caekenberghe, Ghada Badawy, Sasa Gazibegovic, Erik P. A. M. Bakkers, Michael Wimmer, Leo P. Kouwenhoven, Grzegorz P. Mazur
{"title":"Enhanced Majorana stability in a three-site Kitaev chain","authors":"Alberto Bordin, Chun-Xiao Liu, Tom Dvir, Francesco Zatelli, Sebastiaan L. D. ten Haaf, David van Driel, Guanzhong Wang, Nick van Loo, Yining Zhang, Jan Cornelis Wolff, Thomas Van Caekenberghe, Ghada Badawy, Sasa Gazibegovic, Erik P. A. M. Bakkers, Michael Wimmer, Leo P. Kouwenhoven, Grzegorz P. Mazur","doi":"10.1038/s41565-025-01894-4","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41565-025-01894-4","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Majorana zero modes are non-Abelian quasiparticles predicted to emerge at the edges of topological superconductors. A one-dimensional topological superconductor can be realized with the Kitaev model—a chain of spinless fermions coupled via <i>p</i>-wave superconductivity and electron hopping—which becomes topological in the long-chain limit. Here we realize a three-site Kitaev chain using semiconducting quantum dots coupled by superconducting segments in a hybrid InSb/Al nanowire. We investigate the robustness of Majorana zero modes under varying coupling strengths and electrochemical potentials, comparing two- and three-site chains realized within the same device. We observe that extending the chain to three sites enhances the stability of the zero-energy modes, especially against variations in the coupling strengths. This experiment lacks superconducting phase control, yet numerical conductance simulations with phase averaging align well with our observations. Our results demonstrate the scalability of quantum-dot-based Kitaev chains and its benefits for Majorana stability.</p>","PeriodicalId":18915,"journal":{"name":"Nature nanotechnology","volume":"72 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":38.3,"publicationDate":"2025-03-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143736660","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Zhenyuan Teng, Zhenzong Zhang, Ying Tu, Qitao Zhang, Nan Jian, Liujun Yang, Jiadong Xiao, Jie Ding, Longzhen Huang, Ohno Teruhsia, Chengyin Wang, Dengsong Zhang, Han Yu, Jianmei Lu, Chenliang Su, Bin Liu
{"title":"Asymmetric photooxidation of glycerol to hydroxypyruvic acid over Rb–Ir catalytic pairs on poly(heptazine imides)","authors":"Zhenyuan Teng, Zhenzong Zhang, Ying Tu, Qitao Zhang, Nan Jian, Liujun Yang, Jiadong Xiao, Jie Ding, Longzhen Huang, Ohno Teruhsia, Chengyin Wang, Dengsong Zhang, Han Yu, Jianmei Lu, Chenliang Su, Bin Liu","doi":"10.1038/s41565-025-01897-1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41565-025-01897-1","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Selective asymmetric oxidation of glycerol (GLY) to hydroxypyruvic acid (HPA) offers an attractive approach for chiral drug synthesis, but this process is highly challenging. Here we develop a photocatalytic method to achieve heterogeneous selective photooxidation of GLY to HPA over rubidium (Rb) and iridium (Ir) catalytic pairs decorated on a poly(heptazine imide) framework. The Rb sites effectively adsorb GLY molecules through the terminal –OH groups, thus inhibiting their oxidation during photoreaction, while the Ir sites enhance the oxygen reduction reaction and the in situ generated surficial oxygen-reduction radicals on Ir can protect the reactive C-centred radical intermediates produced during photooxidation. The spatial arrangement of Rb and Ir sites facilitates hydrogen extraction—an essential rate-determining step for GLY photooxidation—and protects C3 radical intermediates from overoxidation. This photocatalytic system achieves a remarkable productivity for HPA synthesis (~8,000 μmol of HPA per gram of photocatalyst per hour) under visible-light illumination.</p>","PeriodicalId":18915,"journal":{"name":"Nature nanotechnology","volume":"4 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":38.3,"publicationDate":"2025-03-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143736663","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Nanopores take on the challenge of rare-earth detection","authors":"Andrew H. Laszlo","doi":"10.1038/s41565-025-01891-7","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41565-025-01891-7","url":null,"abstract":"Mycobacterium smegmatis porin A (MspA) modified with nitrilotriacetic acid achieves direct and simultaneous discrimination of rare-earth elements, suggesting the potential use of nanopore sensing in geological exploration.","PeriodicalId":18915,"journal":{"name":"Nature nanotechnology","volume":"72 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":38.3,"publicationDate":"2025-03-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143713287","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Nanoscale C–H/C–D mapping of organic materials using electron spectroscopy","authors":"Ryosuke Senga, Katsumi Hagita, Tomohiro Miyata, Hsiao-Fang Wang, Koichi Mayumi, Hiroshi Jinnai, Kazu Suenaga","doi":"10.1038/s41565-025-01893-5","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41565-025-01893-5","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Distinguishing hydrogen from deuterium using atomic-scale imaging and spectroscopy is crucial for identifying microscopic structures and the origins of the properties of organic materials. However, conventional structural analysis techniques for materials containing both isotopes, such as neutron scattering, provide only averaged information across the beam area. Here we utilize vibrational spectroscopy using a monochromated transmission electron microscope to discretely image hydrogen and deuterium in organic polymers at single-nanometre resolution. This technique allowed carbon–hydrogen and carbon–deuterium stretches to be mapped, which uncovered the surface segregation of the deuterated polystyrene component within a block copolymer film composed of deuterated polystyrene and poly(2-vinylpyridine). Moreover, it enabled clear visualization of the spatial distribution of hydrogenated and deuterated polystyrene on a molecular scale in a bulk block copolymer specimen containing both components. This method, integrated with coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulations, revealed a localized feature of polymer chains corresponding to the reptation tube, which could not be identified using conventional scattering techniques.</p>","PeriodicalId":18915,"journal":{"name":"Nature nanotechnology","volume":"61 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":38.3,"publicationDate":"2025-03-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143677848","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Zeyan Liu, Bosi Peng, Yu-Han Joseph Tsai, Ao Zhang, Mingjie Xu, Wenjie Zang, XingXu Yan, Li Xing, Xiaoqing Pan, Xiangfeng Duan, Yu Huang
{"title":"Pt catalyst protected by graphene nanopockets enables lifetimes of over 200,000 h for heavy-duty fuel cell applications","authors":"Zeyan Liu, Bosi Peng, Yu-Han Joseph Tsai, Ao Zhang, Mingjie Xu, Wenjie Zang, XingXu Yan, Li Xing, Xiaoqing Pan, Xiangfeng Duan, Yu Huang","doi":"10.1038/s41565-025-01895-3","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41565-025-01895-3","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Proton exchange membrane fuel cells feature considerable scalability advantages over lithium-ion batteries for heavy-duty-vehicle applications. The different driving behaviours and operating conditions of heavy-duty vehicles pose challenging requirements, particularly on fuel cell lifetime and efficiency. Here we report the design of a graphene-nanopocket-protected, pore-confined and electrochemically accessible Pt nanocatalyst supported on Ketjenblack carbon for heavy-duty-vehicle applications. The membrane electrode assembly made from these nanocatalysts delivers an initial mass activity of 0.74 A mg<sub>Pt</sub><sup>–1</sup> and a high rated power density of 1.08 W cm<sup>–2</sup>, as well as extraordinary long-term durability with an ultrasmall rated power loss of 1.1% after 90,000 aggressive square-wave cycles. The remarkable activity and durability throughout the operation conditions promise an unprecedentedly long fuel cell lifetime of over 200,000 h and high peak efficiency of 71.9%, making it highly attractive for emerging heavy-duty fuel cell applications.</p>","PeriodicalId":18915,"journal":{"name":"Nature nanotechnology","volume":"46 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":38.3,"publicationDate":"2025-03-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143677600","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Mai P. Tran, Taniya Chakraborty, Erik Poppleton, Luca Monari, Maja Illig, Franziska Giessler, Kerstin Göpfrich
{"title":"Genetic encoding and expression of RNA origami cytoskeletons in synthetic cells","authors":"Mai P. Tran, Taniya Chakraborty, Erik Poppleton, Luca Monari, Maja Illig, Franziska Giessler, Kerstin Göpfrich","doi":"10.1038/s41565-025-01879-3","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41565-025-01879-3","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Bottom-up synthetic biology seeks to engineer a cell from molecular building blocks. Using DNA nanotechnology, building blocks, such as cytoskeletons, have been reverse-engineered. However, DNA nanostructures rely on chemical synthesis and thermal annealing, and therefore synthetic cells cannot produce them from their constituents such as nucleotides. Here we introduce RNA origami cytoskeleton mimics as alternative nucleic acid-based molecular hardware for synthetic cells, which we express directly inside giant unilamellar lipid vesicles (GUVs) containing a DNA template and a polymerase, chemically fuelled by feeding nucleotides from the outside. We designed RNA origami tiles that fold upon transcription and self-assemble into micrometre-long, three-dimensional RNA origami nanotubes under isothermal conditions. We observe that sequence mutations on the DNA template lead to RNA origami nanotubes and closed-ring phenotypes. Molecular dynamics simulations show that these phenotypic transitions are governed by alterations in the stability of RNA secondary structures. In addition, we achieve cortex formation with aptamer-functionalized RNA nanotubes and show that nanotube polymerization leads to membrane deformation. Altogether, our data suggest that the expression of RNA origami-based hardware will help to explore active, evolvable and RNA-based synthetic cells.</p>","PeriodicalId":18915,"journal":{"name":"Nature nanotechnology","volume":"43 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":38.3,"publicationDate":"2025-03-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143635146","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Geoffrey M. Diederich, Mai Nguyen, John Cenker, Jordan Fonseca, Sinabu Pumulo, Youn Jue Bae, Daniel G. Chica, Xavier Roy, Xiaoyang Zhu, Di Xiao, Yafei Ren, Xiaodong Xu
{"title":"Exciton dressing by extreme nonlinear magnons in a layered semiconductor","authors":"Geoffrey M. Diederich, Mai Nguyen, John Cenker, Jordan Fonseca, Sinabu Pumulo, Youn Jue Bae, Daniel G. Chica, Xavier Roy, Xiaoyang Zhu, Di Xiao, Yafei Ren, Xiaodong Xu","doi":"10.1038/s41565-025-01890-8","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41565-025-01890-8","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Collective excitations presenting nonlinear dynamics are fundamental phenomena with broad applications. A prime example is nonlinear optics, where diverse frequency-mixing processes are central to communication and attosecond science, and extreme (>sixth-order) harmonic generation provides broad wavelength conversion. Leveraging recent progress in van der Waals magnetic semiconductors, we demonstrate nonlinear optomagnonic coupling. In the layered antiferromagnetic semiconductor CrSBr, we observe exciton states dressed by up to 20 harmonics of magnons, resulting from their extreme nonlinearities. We also create tunable optical sidebands via sum- and difference-frequency generation between two optically bright magnon modes under symmetry-breaking magnetic fields. Moreover, we can tune the observed difference-frequency generation mode into resonance with one of the fundamental magnons, which results in parametric amplification of magnons. Our findings realize the modulation of the optical-frequency exciton with the extreme nonlinearity of magnons at microwave frequencies, which could find applications in magnonics and hybrid quantum systems, and provide a method for optomagnonic neuromorphic computing devices.</p>","PeriodicalId":18915,"journal":{"name":"Nature nanotechnology","volume":"229 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":38.3,"publicationDate":"2025-03-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143635246","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Nanoscale high-entropy surface engineering promotes selective glycerol electro-oxidation to glycerate at high current density","authors":"Shuibo Wang, Yichao Lin, Yanle Li, Ziqi Tian, Yu Wang, Zhiyi Lu, Baoxin Ni, Kun Jiang, Hongbo Yu, Shiwei Wang, Hongfeng Yin, Liang Chen","doi":"10.1038/s41565-025-01881-9","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41565-025-01881-9","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Selective production of valuable glycerol chemicals, such as glycerate (which serves as an important chemical intermediate), poses a significant challenge due to the facile cleavage of C–C bonds and the presence of multiple reaction pathways. This challenge is more severe in the electro-oxidation of glycerol, which requires the development of desirable electrocatalysts. To facilitate the glycerol electro-oxidation reaction to glycerate, here we present an approach utilizing a high-entropy PtCuCoNiMn nanosurface. It exhibits exceptional activity (~200 mA cm<sup>−2</sup> at 0.75 V versus a reversible hydrogen electrode) and selectivity (75.2%). In situ vibrational measurements and theoretical calculations reveal that the exceptional glycerol electro-oxidation selectivity and activity can be attributed to the unique characteristics of the high-entropy surface, which effectively modifies the electronic structure of the exposed Pt sites. The catalyst is successfully applied in an electrolyser for long-term glycerol electro-oxidation reaction, demonstrating excellent performance (~200 mA cm<sup>−2</sup> at 1.2<i>V</i><sub>cell</sub>) over 210 h. The present study highlights that tailoring the catalytic sites at the catalyst–electrolyte interface by constructing a high-entropy surface is an effective strategy for electrochemical catalysis.</p>","PeriodicalId":18915,"journal":{"name":"Nature nanotechnology","volume":"9 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":38.3,"publicationDate":"2025-03-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143635179","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}