Nature Reviews Materials最新文献

{"title":"Engineered interfaces in electronic materials for energy-efficient computing","authors":"Sathvik Ajay Iyengar, Pulickel M. Ajayan, Vincent Meunier, Tahir Ghani, Sayeef Salahuddin, Asir Intisar Khan","doi":"10.1038/s41578-026-00949-9","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41578-026-00949-9","url":null,"abstract":"The rapid expansion of data-centric technologies has made energy-efficient computing a technological and societal priority. Modern systems consume energy not only through computation but also through data movement between logic and memory, resistive losses in interconnects and heat removal. These energy costs intensify as devices shrink and integration density increases. Architectural strategies such as three-dimensional integration reduce latency and increase functional density by bringing memory and logic closer together. Yet further scaling is progressively constrained by materials functionality at interfaces, rather than by bulk properties. In this Perspective, we argue that transport within the first few atomic layers at material boundaries will determine the efficiency and scalability of future electronic devices. First, we outline four governing principles of interface engineering: electrostatics, electronic hybridization, boundary-dominated transport and thermal and structural stability. We then derive design rules and use representative device examples to show how engineered interfaces control switching energy, electrical conduction, heat dissipation and reliability. Finally, we consider the need for low-temperature materials synthesis, interface-sensitive metrology and uncertainty-aware predictive modelling to facilitate future advances in energy-efficient computing. As electronic devices downscale, the energy efficiency of computing is increasingly limited by interfacial transport processes. This Perspective outlines how engineered electronic-material interfaces control switching, charge and heat transport, and reliability and discusses interface design for logic, memory, interconnects and thermal management, whereas identifying predictive modelling needs for interface design.","PeriodicalId":19081,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Materials","volume":"11 9","pages":"734-748"},"PeriodicalIF":83.3,"publicationDate":"2026-08-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148872194","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":"Closed-loop battery recycling through cathode resynthesis","authors":"Yi Cai, Ruirui Zhao, Deepika Ranganathan, Madhavi Srinivasan","doi":"10.1038/s41578-026-00947-x","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41578-026-00947-x","url":null,"abstract":"As global economies increasingly embrace sustainable energy infrastructures, the demand for effective recycling approaches supporting the rapid expansion of lithium-ion batteries intensifies. Hydrometallurgy stands out among recycling routes for large-scale adoption, accommodating diverse cathode chemistries and facilitating precursor recovery for cathode resynthesis. However, there is a gap in understanding how the key material properties of resynthesized cathodes contribute to existing performance disparities, and the extent to which emerging hydrometallurgical closed-loop pathways can regenerate commercial-grade cathodes. This Review traces the evolution of spent cathodes through closed-loop hydrometallurgical pathways, benchmarking resynthesized cathodes against commercial analogues. We investigate and link observed performance deviations to precursor quality, originating from variable battery leachate composition. Key bottlenecks in recovering battery-grade precursors from complex leachates derived from traditional (mineral acid) and emerging sustainable hydrometallurgical routes (bioleaching, organic acids and deep eutectic solvents) are identified. These bottlenecks are directly linked to primary factors governing precursor quality such as impurity profiles, phase composition and microstructure. Practical insights to minimize the current performance gaps by bridging leachate chemistry and precursor architecture are discussed, providing guidance for the design of closed-loop hydrometallurgical recycling processes capable of functional cathode resynthesis. Closed-loop battery recycling depends on converting variable black mass into cathode precursors that can match commercial materials. This Review links leachate chemistry, precursor impurity, stoichiometry and morphology to resynthesized cathode performance, and outlines design principles for hydrometallurgical cathode resynthesis.","PeriodicalId":19081,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Materials","volume":"11 9","pages":"717-733"},"PeriodicalIF":83.3,"publicationDate":"2026-07-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148872180","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 additive manufacturing of metals, alloys, and metal oxides","authors":"Peter Serles, Yiming Ji, Cyrus J. B. M. Fiori, Wenxin Zhang, Wenyuan Chen, Daryl W. Yee, Julia R. Greer","doi":"10.1038/s41578-026-00945-z","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41578-026-00945-z","url":null,"abstract":"Nanoscale metallic systems exhibit distinct material properties from their bulk counterparts, which can be amplified by nanoarchitecting complex 3D shapes to exploit emergent structure–property relationships. Advances in nanoscale additive manufacturing techniques have enabled freeform 3D nanostructuring of a broad library of metallic systems, including pure metals, multicomponent alloys, and metal oxides. These methods can be broadly divided into optical printing, which uses two-photon lithography with metallic precursors, and physical deposition methods, which use confined electrochemical or physical deposition. The beneficial properties of the resulting nanostructured metallic systems facilitate next-generation designs for various applications including nanostructured metamaterials with exceptional mechanical properties; microrobots and nanorobots capable of efficient propulsion and manoeuvrability in confined fluids; hierarchically structured electrocatalytic cells with enhanced reaction kinetics; and photonic metamaterials with deep subwavelength features that can precisely control light–matter interactions. This Review outlines metallic nanoscale additive manufacturing techniques and emergent applications. We also discuss future opportunities and challenges, including design of multimaterial devices, pathways to scalability and integration with other nanomanufacturing techniques, providing a roadmap towards widespread implementation of 3D nanoscale metallic systems. The properties of nanoscale metallic systems can be amplified through nanostructuring to achieve unique performance in mechanics, robotics, catalysis and photonics. This Review highlights the key nanoscale additive manufacturing techniques used to produce such metallic systems and their distinct next-generation applications.","PeriodicalId":19081,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Materials","volume":"11 9","pages":"680-700"},"PeriodicalIF":83.3,"publicationDate":"2026-07-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148872178","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":"Rethinking energy density limits in dielectric materials","authors":"Zhong-Hui Shen \u0000 (, ), Ce-Wen Nan \u0000 (, )","doi":"10.1038/s41578-026-00946-y","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41578-026-00946-y","url":null,"abstract":"Dielectrics with high energy storage density are essential for device miniaturization and system integration. As advances in materials fabrication technologies push the breakdown strength of dielectric materials ever closer to their theoretical limits, greater emphasis should be placed on polarization enhancement for further improving the energy storage performance.","PeriodicalId":19081,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Materials","volume":"11 8","pages":"603-604"},"PeriodicalIF":83.3,"publicationDate":"2026-07-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148432402","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":"Replace the vitreous permanently","authors":"André Schulz, Katelyn E. Swindle-Reilly, Gopal Lingam, Maximilian Hammer, Zengping Liu \u0000 (, )","doi":"10.1038/s41578-026-00948-w","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41578-026-00948-w","url":null,"abstract":"Vitreous substitutes remain a fundamental unmet need in regenerative medicine: current tamponade agents, gases and silicone oil, address immediate surgical challenges but neglect the long-term functional role of the tissue they replace. A paradigm shift towards durable, biomimetic hydrogel substitutes is not a distant ambition, but a clinical necessity.","PeriodicalId":19081,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Materials","volume":"11 10","pages":"754-756"},"PeriodicalIF":83.3,"publicationDate":"2026-07-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148432403","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":"Understanding and engineering electrocatalyst durability","authors":"Enbo Zhu \u0000 (, ), Yang Liu \u0000 (, ), Ao Zhang \u0000 (, ), Yibo Wang \u0000 (, ), Yuxiao He \u0000 (, ), Xiangfeng Duan \u0000 (, ), Yu Huang \u0000 (, )","doi":"10.1038/s41578-026-00937-z","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41578-026-00937-z","url":null,"abstract":"Electrochemical devices such as fuel cells and electrolysers are pivotal to a sustainable energy future, but their commercial viability depends on electrocatalyst stability — a challenge as critical as achieving high catalytic activity. Materials scientists, chemists and engineers need strategies to design catalysts that maintain high performance under demanding real-world conditions. This Review addresses that need by bridging the latest fundamental understanding of nanostructured catalysts with practical application guidelines, offering timely insights into the chemical and structural principles governing catalyst stability — factors that ultimately dictate reliability, longevity and cost effectiveness. We begin by examining how chemical potential drives stability, exploring intrinsic engineering tactics — spanning composition, crystallinity and morphology — as well as extrinsic strategies such as encapsulation, adhesion and microenvironment optimization that protect electrocatalysts under harsh operating conditions. Building on this foundation, we highlight the need for advanced in situ or operando tools that can capture electrocatalyst behaviour in action, thereby enabling further understanding and guiding the engineering of catalyst stability. We conclude with a forward-looking perspective on emerging directions, from stability descriptors to machine learning, that promise to elevate electrocatalyst activity and stability even further. By placing stability at the forefront, this Review hopes to provide a comprehensive perspective for academia and industry, accelerating the development and deployment of robust, economically viable electrocatalysts to facilitate broader adoption of clean energy. Electrocatalyst durability is a central challenge limiting the large-scale deployment of electrochemical energy technologies, despite major advances in nanocatalyst design and activity. This Review examines the thermodynamic and kinetic principles governing catalyst stability and highlights emerging strategies to understand and engineer stable, high-performance electrocatalysts for practical energy applications.","PeriodicalId":19081,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Materials","volume":"11 8","pages":"653-670"},"PeriodicalIF":83.3,"publicationDate":"2026-07-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148667616","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":"Understanding and engineering electrocatalyst durability","authors":"Enbo Zhu \u0000 (, ), Yang Liu \u0000 (, ), Ao Zhang \u0000 (, ), Yibo Wang \u0000 (, ), Yuxiao He \u0000 (, ), Xiangfeng Duan \u0000 (, ), Yu Huang \u0000 (, )","doi":"10.1038/s41578-026-00937-z","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41578-026-00937-z","url":null,"abstract":"Electrochemical devices such as fuel cells and electrolysers are pivotal to a sustainable energy future, but their commercial viability depends on electrocatalyst stability — a challenge as critical as achieving high catalytic activity. Materials scientists, chemists and engineers need strategies to design catalysts that maintain high performance under demanding real-world conditions. This Review addresses that need by bridging the latest fundamental understanding of nanostructured catalysts with practical application guidelines, offering timely insights into the chemical and structural principles governing catalyst stability — factors that ultimately dictate reliability, longevity and cost effectiveness. We begin by examining how chemical potential drives stability, exploring intrinsic engineering tactics — spanning composition, crystallinity and morphology — as well as extrinsic strategies such as encapsulation, adhesion and microenvironment optimization that protect electrocatalysts under harsh operating conditions. Building on this foundation, we highlight the need for advanced in situ or operando tools that can capture electrocatalyst behaviour in action, thereby enabling further understanding and guiding the engineering of catalyst stability. We conclude with a forward-looking perspective on emerging directions, from stability descriptors to machine learning, that promise to elevate electrocatalyst activity and stability even further. By placing stability at the forefront, this Review hopes to provide a comprehensive perspective for academia and industry, accelerating the development and deployment of robust, economically viable electrocatalysts to facilitate broader adoption of clean energy. Electrocatalyst durability is a central challenge limiting the large-scale deployment of electrochemical energy technologies, despite major advances in nanocatalyst design and activity. This Review examines the thermodynamic and kinetic principles governing catalyst stability and highlights emerging strategies to understand and engineer stable, high-performance electrocatalysts for practical energy applications.","PeriodicalId":19081,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Materials","volume":"11 8","pages":"653-670"},"PeriodicalIF":83.3,"publicationDate":"2026-07-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148667547","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":"From screening to generative design in nucleic acid delivery","authors":"Bowen Li","doi":"10.1038/s41578-026-00944-0","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41578-026-00944-0","url":null,"abstract":"The discovery of delivery materials is shifting from empirical screening to predictive, artificial intelligence-guided design. Harder problems, including the simultaneous optimization of competing properties and delivery beyond the liver, are now pushing the field further, from screening materials to generating them against predefined property targets.","PeriodicalId":19081,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Materials","volume":"11 8","pages":"595-596"},"PeriodicalIF":83.3,"publicationDate":"2026-07-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148667614","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":"From screening to generative design in nucleic acid delivery","authors":"Bowen Li","doi":"10.1038/s41578-026-00944-0","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41578-026-00944-0","url":null,"abstract":"The discovery of delivery materials is shifting from empirical screening to predictive, artificial intelligence-guided design. Harder problems, including the simultaneous optimization of competing properties and delivery beyond the liver, are now pushing the field further, from screening materials to generating them against predefined property targets.","PeriodicalId":19081,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Materials","volume":"11 8","pages":"595-596"},"PeriodicalIF":83.3,"publicationDate":"2026-07-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148667544","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":"Irregular metamaterial networks","authors":"Thomas P. Wytock, Chiara Daraio, Heinrich M. Jaeger, Christopher A. Schuh, Lorenzo Valdevit, Vincenzo Vitelli, Adilson E. Motter","doi":"10.1038/s41578-026-00936-0","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41578-026-00936-0","url":null,"abstract":"Metamaterials can achieve exceptional functionality through careful design of their mesoscale structure. Although engineered irregularities can be advantageous, current approaches largely conform to regular structures to preserve tractability. Here we contend that network theory, enriched with geometry and physics, provides a natural framework for modelling and designing metamaterials with controlled irregularities at relevant scales. We examine how this augmented network theory can facilitate the creation of irregular metamaterials with enhanced or novel properties and how metamaterial research, in turn, is opening new directions in the broader area of physical networks. Supported by machine learning and advances in self-assembly, the emerging field of irregular metamaterial networks is poised to transform the design and scalable manufacturing of new materials. Metamaterials derived from irregular networks promise remarkable properties but require a new type of network science. This Perspective establishes a foundation built on networks endowed with geometry and physics for describing, analysing, predicting and ultimately designing metamaterials with controlled irregularity and tailored functionalities.","PeriodicalId":19081,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Materials","volume":"11 10","pages":"820-837"},"PeriodicalIF":83.3,"publicationDate":"2026-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149100858","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}