Daniel Persaud, Mike Werezak, Mark Xu, Melyne Zhou, Frank Benkel, Xin Pang, Vahid Attari, Brian DeCost, Ashley S Dale, Nicholas Senior, Gabriel Birsan, Jason Hattrick-Simpers
{"title":"Materials Acceleration Platform for Electrochemistry: a Platform for Autonomous Electrochemistry.","authors":"Daniel Persaud, Mike Werezak, Mark Xu, Melyne Zhou, Frank Benkel, Xin Pang, Vahid Attari, Brian DeCost, Ashley S Dale, Nicholas Senior, Gabriel Birsan, Jason Hattrick-Simpers","doi":"10.1038/s41529-026-00822-8","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41529-026-00822-8","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Corrosion testing is slow, labor-intensive, and sensitive to operator technique, limiting the generation of large, high-quality datasets for data-driven materials discovery. The Materials Acceleration Platform for Electrochemistry (MAP-E) is an autonomous, high-throughput system, capable of performing parallel electrochemical experiments. It integrates robotic liquid handling and sample transfer with a multi-channel potentiostatic control to extract corrosion metrics without human intervention. Validation against an ASTM G61-analog benchmark demonstrates good reproducibility, with a standard deviation of 75 mV in pitting potential across 32 automated measurements. The platform was then employed to autonomously construct pH-chloride stability diagrams for 304 stainless steel using an uncertainty-driven sampling strategy on a Gaussian process surrogate model. This approach reduces operator involvement and accelerates the exploration of environmental spaces. The MAP-E establishes a framework for autonomous electrochemical experimentation, enabling generation of corrosion datasets that inform materials discovery, alloy design, and durability assessment in service environments.</p>","PeriodicalId":19270,"journal":{"name":"npj Materials Degradation","volume":"10 1","pages":"111"},"PeriodicalIF":7.5,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13553302/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148920603","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Saman Nikpour, Anastasia M Codirenzi, Christine Hoskin, Ubong Eduok, Brent Lanting, Matthew G Teeter, Camila P E de Souza, Yolanda S Hedberg
{"title":"Corrosion and wear damage estimations for retrieved knee and hip implants.","authors":"Saman Nikpour, Anastasia M Codirenzi, Christine Hoskin, Ubong Eduok, Brent Lanting, Matthew G Teeter, Camila P E de Souza, Yolanda S Hedberg","doi":"10.1038/s41529-026-00821-9","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41529-026-00821-9","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Predicting the lifetime and function of orthopedic implants requires learning from failures observed in retrieved implants. This study scored mechanical and corrosion damage based on optical microscopy (OM) for 135 trunnion parts of retrieved hip implants and 106 tibial baseplates of retrieved knee implants. We used scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy to categorize the damage types. This data was correlated with implant and patient factors. Fretting, third-body wear, tribocorrosion, and biofilms were observed. Mechanically assisted corrosion, <i>e.g.</i>, tribocorrosion, was the dominant damage mode for both hip and knee implants. The knee implant damage strongly depended on the locking mechanism of the polyethylene insert on the tibial baseplate. For the trunnion part, infection prior to or at surgery was correlated with higher SEM damage scores. Inflammatory arthritis and cemented hip implants correlated with lower SEM damage scores of the trunnion. Damage scores decreased with patient age, and increased with patient weight, body mass index, and years of implantation.</p>","PeriodicalId":19270,"journal":{"name":"npj Materials Degradation","volume":"10 1","pages":"110"},"PeriodicalIF":7.5,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13541609/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148897583","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Photogenerated carrier-directed modulation of WO3/Bi2WO6 Z-scheme heterojunction for marine anti-corrosion and anti-fouling","authors":"Jing Tian, Yuanhang Cheng, Zhenyu Zhang, Zhi Zhao, Zehai Xu, Jiarun Li","doi":"10.1038/s41529-025-00707-2","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41529-025-00707-2","url":null,"abstract":"Metal corrosion and biofouling in marine environments significantly constrain the long-term service performance of marine equipment. Traditional protection strategies suffer from issues such as low efficiency and insufficient environmental friendliness, necessitating the development of novel, highly efficient, and stable anti-corrosion and anti-fouling materials. In this study, a dual-functional WO3/Bi2WO6 Z-scheme heterojunction photoelectrode was fabricated via a two-step hydrothermal method. The results of UV–visible diffuse reflectance, Mott-Schottky, as well as density functional theory calculations confirmed the successful construction of the Z-type heterojunction. The construction of the Z-scheme heterojunction not only enhances the separation efficiency of photogenerated charge carriers but also directionally regulates their migration pathway, preserving photogenerated electrons with strong reducing capability and photogenerated holes with strong oxidizing capability, therefore, the potential of 316L stainless steel could be negatively shifted by 200 mV, while the sterilization rate of Pseudomonas aeruginosa reached 100% within 60 min.","PeriodicalId":19270,"journal":{"name":"npj Materials Degradation","volume":"9 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-12-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.com/articles/s41529-025-00707-2_reference.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147901280","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Remedy for NaCl-induced sandstone weathering via crystallization inhibition by environmentally friendly iron tartrate","authors":"Dongmei Chen, Kun Yuan, Meichen Jiao, Xiaojian Bai, Xiaohai Wu, Shi-Li Li, Xian‐Ming Zhang","doi":"10.1038/s40494-025-02243-3","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s40494-025-02243-3","url":null,"abstract":"Salt weathering poses a major threat to porous sandstone in cultural heritage. Iron-tartrate complexes have been proposed to modify NaCl crystallization behavior and prevent clumping. However, their efficacy in stone conservation has remained unverified. This study presents the first systematic validation of iron-tartrate complexes as environmentally friendly inhibitors for the preservation of sandstone heritage. Through a multi-method experimental approach, potassium ferricyanide (FCN), ferrous meso-tartrate (Fe(II)-mTA), and ferric meso-tartrate (Fe(III)-mTA) are shown to markedly modify NaCl crystal habit, enhance material durability, and triple salt extraction efficiency, with negligible impact on pores below 10 µm. Molecular dynamics simulations further indicate that inhibitor adsorption energy on NaCl {100} and {111} crystal surfaces followed the order of FCN > Fe(III)-mTA > Fe(II)-mTA, which is consistent with the experimental findings. This work establishes iron-tartrate complexes as an effective and sustainable strategy for protecting sandstone heritage against salt damage, with the recognition that its performance is substrate-dependent and requires further long-term validation.","PeriodicalId":19270,"journal":{"name":"npj Materials Degradation","volume":"13 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-12-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.com/articles/s40494-025-02243-3.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147332469","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Rapid screening of the stability of polyacrylamide-based hydrogel coatings via droplet microarray analysis and interpretable machine learning","authors":"Jingzhi Yang, Yami Ran, Yuting Jin, Annan Kong, Mingyue Zhang, Lingwei Ma, Dawei Zhang","doi":"10.1038/s41529-025-00706-3","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41529-025-00706-3","url":null,"abstract":"The unsatisfactory stability of hydrogel coatings hinders their functional and service performance. Until now, the development of high-performance hydrogel coatings largely relies on the intuition and prior experience of researchers. Machine learning, as a powerful engine for material design, was demonstrated to accelerate the development of hydrogels with desired properties. However, the scarcity of labeled data of the target property is a fundamental challenge. Herein, we develop a miniaturized high-throughput evaluation method of hydrogel coatings. This method achieved a rapid and parallel investigation of the stability of a large number of unique acrylamide-based hydrogel coatings. Moreover, a list of main feature descriptors was screened and their quantitative contributions to coating stability were analyzed via interpretable machine learning technology. A new ternary hydrogel coating was prepared to validate the accuracy of the machine learning strategy. This advanced methodology facilitated the rational design of high-performance hydrogel coatings.","PeriodicalId":19270,"journal":{"name":"npj Materials Degradation","volume":"9 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-12-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.com/articles/s41529-025-00706-3.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147332076","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Yihang Zhou, Jing Du, Xueqi Wang, W. Zhang, Kai Wang, Xiangna Han, Naisheng Li
{"title":"Cocktail therapy for waterlogged archaeological wood: improving the effectiveness of PEG on air-drying by adding APTES and trifluoromethyl phenylboronic acid","authors":"Yihang Zhou, Jing Du, Xueqi Wang, W. Zhang, Kai Wang, Xiangna Han, Naisheng Li","doi":"10.1038/s40494-025-02221-9","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s40494-025-02221-9","url":null,"abstract":"Consolidation before dehydration is the major procedure to conserve waterlogged archaeological wood (WAW). Polyethylene glycol (PEG) has been widely used since 1960s. However, if not combined with freeze-drying technique, PEG alone sometimes fails to provide adequate dimensional stability for heavily degraded WAW. A water-solution based ternary formula PAT, standing for PEG, 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES) and 4-trifluoromethyl phenylboronic acid (TFMPBA) is studied using WAW of Sapium sp. and Pinus massoniana from the Nanhai No. 1 shipwreck. Compared to 20% PEG treatment, the optimized 20% PAT treatment reduces shrinkage from 71.8% to 51.0% for sapium WAW and from 14.1% to 5.6% for pine WAW after air-drying. Scanning electron microscope and low field nuclear magnetic resonance shows the PAT consolidant preferentially fills the micro cavities in cell walls and changes the drying behavior of PEG treated WAW. Finally, PAT treated samples exhibit lower hygroscopicity than PEG treated one, presumably improving their long-term stability.","PeriodicalId":19270,"journal":{"name":"npj Materials Degradation","volume":"13 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-12-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.com/articles/s40494-025-02221-9.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147334165","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
P. Ortiz, María Auxiliadora Gómez‐Morón, Miguel Soto Garrido, Andrea Gil-Torrano, L. Toro-Murillo, D. Abreu, Jairo Axel Bracho Palma
{"title":"Interdisciplinary study of 16th-century Spanish court woman fashion, gemstones, and Virgen del Rosario dress","authors":"P. Ortiz, María Auxiliadora Gómez‐Morón, Miguel Soto Garrido, Andrea Gil-Torrano, L. Toro-Murillo, D. Abreu, Jairo Axel Bracho Palma","doi":"10.1038/s40494-025-02192-x","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s40494-025-02192-x","url":null,"abstract":"Woman clothing and gemstones of the Spanish court of 16th and 17th-century symbolized the power through the fashion. The Virgen del Rosario’s dress, compared with portraits of queens and infantas of this period, provides a crucial visual record of period attire and adornment and serves as a basis for investigating the originality and later interventions. This study applies an integrated historical, artistic and material approach, combining non-invasive techniques such as Raman, FTIR, XRF and SEM-EDS analysis. Comparative analysis links the observation of clothing and jewelry in portraits with the morphological and chemical examination of the gemstones set in the 17th-century metallic Virgin’s dress. Results indicate at least three historical phases of interventions on the dress: gemstones contemporary with the original manufacture featuring mounted on their crowns and modified dutch cuts; doublet or triplet stones with brilliant cuts; and more recent, emerald-cut glass, providing insights into the dress’s restorations and modifications.","PeriodicalId":19270,"journal":{"name":"npj Materials Degradation","volume":"13 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-12-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.com/articles/s40494-025-02192-x.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147904321","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Shuaijun Guo, Shilei Zhu, Zhe Wang, Shanhao Feng, Wenwen Yu, Ya Nan Ye, Qiang Zheng
{"title":"Entanglement-controlled gels for versatile artifact cleaning","authors":"Shuaijun Guo, Shilei Zhu, Zhe Wang, Shanhao Feng, Wenwen Yu, Ya Nan Ye, Qiang Zheng","doi":"10.1038/s40494-025-02108-9","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s40494-025-02108-9","url":null,"abstract":"In the process of cultural heritage conservation, the surface cleaning of artworks is an extremely delicate and challenging task. Due to the significant differences in cleaning requirements for various artifacts, the threshold for materials used in conservation is high, encompassing criteria such as chemical stability, reversibility, minimal invasiveness, and long-term compatibility with the artifact. In this work, we prepared a physically crosslinked and reusable gel through ultraviolet light-induced polymerization of acrylamide (AAm) monomers. By adjusting the monomer concentration, we were able to fine-tune the gel’s adhesion and bulk strength, allowing it to meet the cleaning needs of various artifacts. By comparing the model surfaces before and after cleaning, it observed that the gel caused no damage to the surface and left no residue. This gel demonstrates the potential to remove soiling residues from rough and irregular artistic surfaces, further broadening the application scenarios of gels in artifact restoration.","PeriodicalId":19270,"journal":{"name":"npj Materials Degradation","volume":"13 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-11-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.com/articles/s40494-025-02108-9.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147898305","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Heting Hong, Lijia Chen, Zheng Zhou, Chunguang Yang, Yange Yang, Lingrui Zha, Xinrui Zhang, Min Liu, Jinlong Zhao, Guijun Bi, Ke Yang
{"title":"Catalytic Cu-ion regulation in laser-directed energy deposited stainless steel coatings for sustainable surface biofouling mitigation","authors":"Heting Hong, Lijia Chen, Zheng Zhou, Chunguang Yang, Yange Yang, Lingrui Zha, Xinrui Zhang, Min Liu, Jinlong Zhao, Guijun Bi, Ke Yang","doi":"10.1038/s41529-025-00699-z","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41529-025-00699-z","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract In this study, the laser-directed energy deposition technology was adopted and combined with pre-alloyed Cu-bearing stainless steel (SS) powders to successfully fabricate advanced metal-based antifouling coatings suitable for marine engineering. The optimized 304L-5Cu SS and 304L-10Cu SS coatings exhibited dense microstructures with uniform Cu distribution, significantly reducing bacterial activity within 24 h and inhibiting biofilm adhesion by suppressing polysaccharide and protein secretion. In a novel dynamic antifouling evaluation system, the biofouling coverage on the Cu-bearing SS coatings decreased to 2.5% after 7 days, with fouling inhibition rates increasing from 58.3% to 82.1% as Cu content rose. In comparison to commercial copolymer coatings, the Cu-bearing SS coatings demonstrated reduced and more controlled Cu ion release rates, effectively minimizing environmental risks to marine ecosystems. The enhanced antifouling performance was attributed to the catalytic generation of reactive oxygen species induced by Cu ions, leading to cellular damage. Additionally, the 304L-10Cu SS coating showed superior uniform corrosion resistance, although its pitting potential decreased by approximately 41.1% compared to the 304L-5Cu SS coating due to CuO dissolution at high potentials. These findings highlight the potential of LDED-based surface modification for designing sustainable, high-performance antifouling coatings, offering a resource-efficient and environmentally-friendly solution for marine equipment applications.","PeriodicalId":19270,"journal":{"name":"npj Materials Degradation","volume":"9 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-11-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147881765","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Shiyao Du, Chenhao Ren, Lingwei Ma, Dequan Wu, Kun Zhou, Zongbao Li, Jun Wang, Dawei Zhang
{"title":"High-throughput investigation and finite element modelling of atmospheric corrosion on carbon steel under varying droplets","authors":"Shiyao Du, Chenhao Ren, Lingwei Ma, Dequan Wu, Kun Zhou, Zongbao Li, Jun Wang, Dawei Zhang","doi":"10.1038/s41529-025-00695-3","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41529-025-00695-3","url":null,"abstract":"A novel high-throughput platform enabling high-efficient preparation of droplet microarray and automatic characterization of corrosion morphologies was employed to investigate droplet corrosion on carbon steel. One hundred droplets with different compositions (NaCl and Na2SO4), concentrations (from 0.4 wt.% to 4 wt.%) and pH values (3, 7 and 10) were obtained within 2 h. The average height of accumulated corrosion products (H) in neutral NaCl droplets decreased as NaCl concentration exceeded 2.4 wt.%, while H value in neutral Na2SO4 droplets increased continuously with the increasing Na2SO4 concentration. Finite element modelling confirmed that the high surface coverage of corrosion products in high-concentration NaCl droplets prohibited corrosion products accumulation. The less aggressive SO42− resulted in a low surface coverage thereby enabling continuous corrosion products formation. For the influence of pH values, the corrosion rate in acidic environment (pH=3) was the largest due to the formation of non-protective γ-FeOOH and FeCl2, while the alkaline environment (pH=10) showed the least corrosion rate as more protective α-FeOOH was generated.","PeriodicalId":19270,"journal":{"name":"npj Materials Degradation","volume":"9 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-11-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147887896","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}