{"title":"Versatile heavy metal ion separation via biological ion-channel-inspired membranes.","authors":"Yongye Zhao,Hongfei Gao,Lei Yu,Qi Li,Chaoxu Li,Lei Jiang,Jun Gao","doi":"10.1038/s41565-026-02147-8","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41565-026-02147-8","url":null,"abstract":"Solvent extraction and adsorption methods are predominantly used to extract heavy metal ions by binding them selectively. However, these methods require excessive chemical use and cause environmental problems. The membrane separation method avoids these problems but remains poorly compatible with heavy metal ions. In nature, biological CaV channels allow selectively bound ions (Ca2+) to rapidly and selectively permeate by exploiting the repulsive interactions between single-file ions and the anomalous mole fraction effect. Here, inspired by these channels, we demonstrate a general strategy that can transform adsorptive materials into separation membranes for heavy metal ion separation. The membranes consist of channels that can adsorb target ions in a single file. Using uranium-adsorption channels, uranium separation via the membrane was achieved, demonstrating a uranium/vanadium selectivity of 734 in real seawater and a throughput far exceeding that of previous materials. This strategy is further generalized to the separation of rare earth metals, copper and gold. Moreover, this strategy unifies the adsorption and membrane separation methods, and can also transform separation membranes to adsorbents, showing notably enhanced capacity and selectivity by rejecting the entering of competing ions, reducing the environmental impact of the adsorption method.","PeriodicalId":18915,"journal":{"name":"Nature nanotechnology","volume":"5 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":38.3,"publicationDate":"2026-04-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147695139","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}
Zihan Deng,Lisen Lu,Tianbing Xu,Zhitong Zhao,Yuanyuan Geng,Li Liu,Muyang Yang,Yongfa Zheng,Yao Sun,Jonathan F Lovell,Xuesi Chen,Jianxun Ding,Honglin Jin
{"title":"Enhancing antitumour nanovaccine efficacy via integrated cholesterol modulation in situ.","authors":"Zihan Deng,Lisen Lu,Tianbing Xu,Zhitong Zhao,Yuanyuan Geng,Li Liu,Muyang Yang,Yongfa Zheng,Yao Sun,Jonathan F Lovell,Xuesi Chen,Jianxun Ding,Honglin Jin","doi":"10.1038/s41565-026-02153-w","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41565-026-02153-w","url":null,"abstract":"Antigen presentation is a central component of host immune responses to cancer vaccinations; however, antigen-presenting cells often fail to promote sufficient proliferation of specific T cells, thereby restricting their efficacy. This study shows that manipulating the cholesterol levels in dendritic cell (DC) membranes could enhance the antigen-presenting capability. On the basis of this finding, we developed a membrane-cholesterol-depleting nanovaccine designed to deliver antigens to DCs and simultaneously reduce the membrane cholesterol. The direct deprivation of membrane cholesterol enhanced the contact frequency between DCs and T cells and reshaped the tumour immune microenvironment to inhibit tumourigenesis and progression in multiple tumour models. Mechanistically, the designed nanovaccines promoted immune synapse formation with CD8+ T cells and augmented T cell activation and proliferation by remodelling the cholesterol microdomains in the DC membrane and blocking efferocytosis pathways, boosting the antigen presentation capacity. The study proposes an approach to enhance the effects of vaccines by depleting cholesterol levels in antigen-presenting cell membranes.","PeriodicalId":18915,"journal":{"name":"Nature nanotechnology","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":38.3,"publicationDate":"2026-04-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147694936","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}
Ivan N. Ushakov, Mats Topstad, Muhammad Z. Khalid, Niyorjyoti Sharma, Christoph P. Grams, Ursula Ludacka, Jiali He, Kasper A. Hunnestad, Mohsen Sadeqi-Moqadam, Julia Glaum, Sverre M. Selbach, Joachim Hemberger, Petra Becker, Ladislav Bohatý, Amit Kumar, Jorge Íñiguez-González, Antonius T. J. van Helvoort, Dennis Meier
{"title":"Hybrid antiferroelectric–ferroelectric domain walls in noncollinear antipolar oxides","authors":"Ivan N. Ushakov, Mats Topstad, Muhammad Z. Khalid, Niyorjyoti Sharma, Christoph P. Grams, Ursula Ludacka, Jiali He, Kasper A. Hunnestad, Mohsen Sadeqi-Moqadam, Julia Glaum, Sverre M. Selbach, Joachim Hemberger, Petra Becker, Ladislav Bohatý, Amit Kumar, Jorge Íñiguez-González, Antonius T. J. van Helvoort, Dennis Meier","doi":"10.1038/s41565-026-02139-8","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41565-026-02139-8","url":null,"abstract":"Antiferroelectrics are emerging as advanced functional materials with unique electric properties enabled by the antipolar arrangement of their electric dipoles. Additional functionalities and novel physical nanoscale phenomena are expected in systems with noncollinear antipolar dipole structures. Here we demonstrate how the onset of antiferroelectricity in K3[Nb3O6∣(BO3)2] drives noncollinear ordering of electric dipole moments, which leads to unusual hybridization of antiferroelectric and ferroelectric responses. Besides the double-hysteresis loop common to antiferroelectrics, a pronounced piezoresponse and electrically switchable hybrid domains are observed using scanning probe microscopy. Scanning transmission electron microscopy shows that the domains are separated by atomically sharp and micrometre-long charged domain walls with inseparably entangled discontinuities in the antiferroelectric and ferroelectric orders. Hybrid antiferroelectric–ferroelectric responses are expected in a wide range of noncollinear systems.","PeriodicalId":18915,"journal":{"name":"Nature nanotechnology","volume":"3 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":38.3,"publicationDate":"2026-04-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147685198","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":"Giant room-temperature third-order electrical transport in a thin-film altermagnet candidate.","authors":"Hongyu Chen,Peixin Qin,Ziang Meng,Guojian Zhao,Kai Chen,Chuanying Xi,Xiaoning Wang,Li Liu,Zhiyuan Duan,Sixu Jiang,Jingyu Li,Xiaoyang Tan,Jinghua Liu,Jianfeng Wang,Huiying Liu,Chengbao Jiang,Zhiqi Liu","doi":"10.1038/s41565-026-02159-4","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41565-026-02159-4","url":null,"abstract":"Quantum geometry, a quantum mechanical quantity comprised of Berry curvature and quantum metric, describes the geometric structure of the electronic bands in solids. The correlation between nontrivial quantum geometry and quantum materials leads to new findings in condensed matter systems. Here we demonstrate that altermagnets, with spontaneously broken time-reversal ( T ) -half-lattice-translation and parity-time symmetry, host both T -odd and T -even quantum geometric quantities that simultaneously manifest themselves despite the vanishing net magnetization. Consequently, giant room-temperature third-order electrical transport responses with sizable quantum geometric contributions are observed in (101)-oriented RuO2 thin films, an altermagnetic candidate; in particular, the third-order Hall effect is intimately correlated with altermagnetic order and can serve as a promising tool for detecting the Néel vector. Our work not only supports the existence of altermagnetism in 8-nm-thick RuO2 thin films, but also shows altermagnets as a versatile platform for exploring quantum geometry and constructing quantum electronic and spintronic devices.","PeriodicalId":18915,"journal":{"name":"Nature nanotechnology","volume":"31 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":38.3,"publicationDate":"2026-04-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147684832","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}
Shreyash S Hadke,Carol N Klingler,Spencer T Brown,Meghana Holla,Xudong Zhuang,Linda Li,M Iqbal Bakti Utama,Santiago Diaz-Arauzo,Anurag Chapagain,Siyang Li,Jung Hun Lee,Indira M Raman,Vinod K Sangwan,Mark C Hersam
{"title":"Printed MoS2 memristive nanosheet networks for spiking neurons with multi-order complexity.","authors":"Shreyash S Hadke,Carol N Klingler,Spencer T Brown,Meghana Holla,Xudong Zhuang,Linda Li,M Iqbal Bakti Utama,Santiago Diaz-Arauzo,Anurag Chapagain,Siyang Li,Jung Hun Lee,Indira M Raman,Vinod K Sangwan,Mark C Hersam","doi":"10.1038/s41565-026-02149-6","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41565-026-02149-6","url":null,"abstract":"Artificial neurons that reproduce the rich dynamical behaviour of biological spiking are essential for neuromorphic hardware and biohybrid interfaces, yet scalable solution-processed devices with physiologically relevant spiking characteristics remain elusive. Here we demonstrate aerosol-jet-printed memristive networks of MoS2 nanosheets that exhibit thermally activated filamentary switching and snap-back negative differential resistance, enabling volatile threshold switching in fully printed graphene/MoS2/graphene devices on flexible substrates. In situ thermal imaging and circuit modelling reveal that current-constricted filaments formed through Joule heating govern the nonlinear switching dynamics. These printed memristors enable oscillatory and spiking neuron circuits with tunable frequencies up to 20 kHz and stable operation over more than 106 cycles. Simple neuristor circuits realize first-, second- and third-order spiking complexity, including integrate-and-fire behaviour, spike latency, tonic firing, class 1 excitability, tonic bursting and phasic dynamics. The generated spike waveforms match physiological timescales and stimulate Purkinje neurons in mouse cerebellar slices. Our results establish printed nanosheet memristive networks as a scalable platform for bio-realistic neuromorphic hardware and flexible brain-machine interfaces.","PeriodicalId":18915,"journal":{"name":"Nature nanotechnology","volume":"12 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":38.3,"publicationDate":"2026-04-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147684833","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":"Aqueous electrolyte solutions with anion-bridged secondary solvation sheaths for highly efficient zinc metal batteries.","authors":"Dejian Dong, Jiyun Heo, Zheng Li, Qiu Zhang, Xiyue Zhang, Kangxuan Xia, Yuchen Niu, Zeyi Wang, Enyuan Hu, Chunsheng Wang","doi":"10.1038/s41565-026-02148-7","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41565-026-02148-7","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Aqueous zinc metal batteries are low-cost electrochemical devices suitable for safe grid energy storage. However, water decomposition and Zn dendrite formation detrimentally affect their coulombic efficiency. Conventional aqueous electrolyte solutions, with a concentration around 1 M, are cost-effective and exhibit high bulk ionic conductivity but cannot form a stable solid electrolyte interphase. Water-in-salt and aqueous-organic hybrid electrolyte solutions can form robust solid electrolyte interphases, but they are not kinetically efficient and cost-effective. Here, to circumvent these issues, we design variously concentrated aqueous electrolyte solutions using several salts with different donor numbers to extend anion coordination into the secondary solvation sheath. We show that salt-derived anions with donor number > 18 enter the Zn<sup>2+</sup> first solvation sheath, and ensure a strong binding energy between the Zn<sup>2+</sup>(H<sub>2</sub>O)<sub>5</sub>-anion nanometric clusters and water molecules in the secondary solvation sheath. In particular, 2 M aqueous electrolyte solutions containing fluorinated anions exhibit bulk ionic conductivities of 26-35 mS cm<sup>-1</sup> at 25 °C and form a ZnF<sub>2</sub>-rich solid electrolyte interphase. When tested in Zn||NaV<sub>3</sub>O<sub>8</sub>·1.5H<sub>2</sub>O Swagelok cells, the best-performing electrolyte solution enables an average coulombic efficiency of 99.99% for 1,000 cycles at 1.5 mA cm<sup>-2</sup>, corresponding to an initial specific energy of 130 Wh kg<sup>-1</sup> (based on the combined weight of the positive and negative electrodes).</p>","PeriodicalId":18915,"journal":{"name":"Nature nanotechnology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":34.9,"publicationDate":"2026-04-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147633324","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}
Can Liu,Zefang Li,Xuange Hu,Jiangteng Guo,Yue Hu,Ying Deng,Haixue Wang,Shaozheng Ji,Cuntao Gao,Fang Liu,Huai Zhang,Wei He,Tengyu Guo,Shaohui Chen,Peng-Han Lu,Jinxiong Wu,Yangfan Hu,Zhi-Min Liao,Jun-Ming Liu,Dapeng Yu,Zhipeng Hou,Rafal E Dunin-Borkowski,Yimei Zhu,Xuewen Fu
{"title":"Picosecond-scale coherent toggle switching of topological spin helicity.","authors":"Can Liu,Zefang Li,Xuange Hu,Jiangteng Guo,Yue Hu,Ying Deng,Haixue Wang,Shaozheng Ji,Cuntao Gao,Fang Liu,Huai Zhang,Wei He,Tengyu Guo,Shaohui Chen,Peng-Han Lu,Jinxiong Wu,Yangfan Hu,Zhi-Min Liao,Jun-Ming Liu,Dapeng Yu,Zhipeng Hou,Rafal E Dunin-Borkowski,Yimei Zhu,Xuewen Fu","doi":"10.1038/s41565-026-02142-z","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41565-026-02142-z","url":null,"abstract":"The switching of conventional magnetization states is a cornerstone of modern spintronics, enabling control over binary ('0' and '1') information bits. Although the coherent control of helicity switching in topological spin configurations is promising for applications such as high-speed multistate memory and neuromorphic and probabilistic computing, realizing it has been challenging. This difficulty stems from the requirement for coherent spin precession while maintaining the intrinsic topology of the spin configurations, which is usually disrupted by conventional excitations. Here we report an experimental realization of coherent helicity toggle switching in nanoscale magnetic vortices occurring on timescales of several hundred picoseconds. This switching behaviour is driven by femtosecond laser pulse excitation under an out-of-plane magnetic field. The mechanism is governed by ultrafast photothermal demagnetization and coherent spin precession in the subsequent remagnetization process, during which the intrinsic topology and symmetry of the vortex are preserved. Crucially, the helicity switching dynamics can be tuned precisely using the laser fluence and magnetic field strength, enabling deterministic to stochastic control over the two energy-degenerate helicity states. This control was reproduced in micromagnetic simulations when the parameters were optimized within a physically reasonable range.","PeriodicalId":18915,"journal":{"name":"Nature nanotechnology","volume":"26 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":38.3,"publicationDate":"2026-04-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147599482","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}