Materials Today最新文献

{"title":"Research progress in flexible solar thermoelectric devices","authors":"Jin-Zhuo Liu ,&nbsp;Si-Qi Chen ,&nbsp;Yi-Yi Ju ,&nbsp;Ming-Peng Zhuo ,&nbsp;Ke-Qin Zhang","doi":"10.1016/j.mattod.2025.06.004","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.mattod.2025.06.004","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div><span>Effective energy harvesting<span> and conversion from environmental sources or the human body, such as the thermoelectric conversion of heat into affordable and sustainable electricity, offers a stable and continuous energy supply for smart wearables and </span></span>Internet of Things<span> (IoTs) without relying on mechanical components or generating greenhouse gases. However, scaling up the production of thermoelectric fabrics and integrating thermal management for high-efficiency electricity generation present significant challenges. To address this, there is an urgent need to explore the rational design and scalable preparation of FSTEDs. In this review, we provide a comprehensive overview of recent advancements in radiation-modulating fibers, thermoelectric textiles, and FSTEDs, focusing on materials design principles, preparation methods, performance regulation, and wearable applications. Furthermore, we summarize the challenges currently faced by solar radiation fibers and flexible light-thermal-electric conversion devices, aiming to stimulate further research in both academia and industry. Our timely interpretation of FSTEDs underscores their potential for cost-effective, scalable, and high-performance energy harvesting and conversion in smart wearables.</span></div></div>","PeriodicalId":387,"journal":{"name":"Materials Today","volume":"88 ","pages":"Pages 585-596"},"PeriodicalIF":22.0,"publicationDate":"2025-06-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144842048","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":"Construction of nucleic acid Aptamer-Functionalized DNA hydrogels and their application in biomedicine","authors":"Jing Wang ,&nbsp;Jiale Huo ,&nbsp;He Huang ,&nbsp;Chi Yao ,&nbsp;Dayong Yang","doi":"10.1016/j.mattod.2025.05.024","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.mattod.2025.05.024","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Nucleic acid aptamer-functionalized DNA hydrogels constitute an innovative platform merging the precision of DNA nanotechnology with the versatility of hydrogel biomaterials. By integrating the precise targeting capabilities of aptamers with the tunable physicochemical properties of hydrogels, this hybrid system has found broad applications in biomedicine. This review outlines fundamental construction strategies for aptamer-functionalized DNA hydrogels, such as rolling circle amplification (RCA), clamped hybridization chain reaction (C-HCR), and branched DNA self-assembly. We then highlight their unique functions, including <em>in vitro</em> capture/separation and <em>in vivo</em> recruitment/enrichment, as well as recent advances in tissue repair, tumor immunotherapy, photodynamic therapy, and biomedical detection. Finally, we discuss the current challenges and future opportunities for these materials in biomedical applications.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":387,"journal":{"name":"Materials Today","volume":"88 ","pages":"Pages 552-566"},"PeriodicalIF":22.0,"publicationDate":"2025-06-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144842047","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":"Structurally reordered crystalline atomic layer-dielectric hybrid metasurfaces for near-unity efficiency in the visible","authors":"Junhwa Seong ,&nbsp;Younghwan Yang ,&nbsp;Youngsun Jeon ,&nbsp;Chihun Lee ,&nbsp;Jihwan An ,&nbsp;Junsuk Rho","doi":"10.1016/j.mattod.2025.06.005","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.mattod.2025.06.005","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div><span>Metasurfaces<span>, consisting of sub-wavelength scale nanostructures, have garnered significant attention as promising alternatives to conventional optical elements. However, traditional metasurfaces are often limited by material inefficiencies, fabrication complexity, and challenges in achieving seamless integration with standard semiconductor equipment. Here, we propose highly efficient crystalline titanium dioxide (TiO</span></span>₂)-silicon dioxide (SiO₂<span>) hybrid metasurfaces, fabricated using plasma-enhanced atomic layer deposition. By recrystallizing the state of the TiO</span>₂<span> atomic layer under optimized deposition conditions, we significantly increase the refractive index by 0.43 at a wavelength of 400 nm compared to its minimum value. Our hybrid metasurfaces, constructed by directly etching nanostructures into SiO</span>₂<span> substrates, substantially enhance cross-polarization transmittance, offering near-unity efficiencies across red (from 1 % to 95 %), green (from 3 % to 95 %), and blue (from 5 % to 75 %) wavelengths. We apply these hybrid metasurfaces to achieve diffraction-limited imaging with large-aperture 5 mm-sized metalenses in each color. This hybrid metasurface paves the way for real-world applications by extending SiO</span>₂<span>—widely used in the industry but previously limited by its low refractive index—into a high-efficiency metasurface material for the visible spectrum.</span></div></div>","PeriodicalId":387,"journal":{"name":"Materials Today","volume":"88 ","pages":"Pages 137-145"},"PeriodicalIF":22.0,"publicationDate":"2025-06-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144841547","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":"Solid-state methods for ceramic metallization: Unlocking structural complexity, quantum effects, and multifunctionality","authors":"S. Romankov ,&nbsp;Y.C. Park ,&nbsp;R.Y. Umetsu ,&nbsp;S.V. Komarov ,&nbsp;D.V. Louzguine‑Luzgin","doi":"10.1016/j.mattod.2025.06.007","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.mattod.2025.06.007","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The metallization of ceramics is essential for advanced technological applications but remains challenging due to poor metal-ceramic adhesion and structural incompatibility. A solid-state mechanical alloying approach using ultrasonically assisted shot impact processing, which can also utilize metallic cubic billets as a coating material source, is introduced. This approach is demonstrated on W-Al- and W-Ni-based coatings fabricated on alumina substrates. The method enables the formation of a structurally complex system, integrating amorphous regions, nanocrystalline grains, and localized non-equilibrium solid solutions into a uniform structure. The as-fabricated coatings impart electrical conductivity and magnetic properties to the initially insulating ceramic substrate, while their exceptional adhesion ensures mechanical integrity, allowing the coating to co-deform with the substrate without delamination prior to ceramic fracture. Additionally, quantum transport phenomena, including weak localization and negative magnetoresistance at 6 K, are observed, revealing a direct correlation between structural complexity and electronic behavior. The emergence of quantum phenomena in mechanically integrated multicomponent metallic systems provides insight into quantum behavior in severely deformed materials and opens new possibilities for designing advanced functional materials.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":387,"journal":{"name":"Materials Today","volume":"88 ","pages":"Pages 155-167"},"PeriodicalIF":22.0,"publicationDate":"2025-06-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144841549","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":"Material selection charts for optimised radiation shielding","authors":"M.I. Brand ,&nbsp;E.G. Obbard ,&nbsp;C. Wilson ,&nbsp;J. Naish ,&nbsp;G. Kamal ,&nbsp;J. Astbury ,&nbsp;P.A. Burr","doi":"10.1016/j.mattod.2025.05.007","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.mattod.2025.05.007","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Material selection charts provide an objective metric to optimise the selection of engineering materials but have never been developed for radiation shielding. This can lead to sub-optimal choices in some cases, as we demonstrate in this paper. We have reformulated the radiation transport problem so that a material metric for any given shielding scenario can be computed, ranked, and mapped onto an <em>Ashby map</em>. By removing bias from the selection process, this has yielded non-obvious or even counter-intuitive candidates for further examination, which outperform the conventional choice of shielding materials, for example metal hydrides for fusion reactors and boranes for fast reactors in space. Key novelties are that this optimisation considers the type and energy spectrum of radiation, the composition of the target being shielded and what type of interactions should be minimised in the target. The high-throughput method, enables investigation of the shielding performance over time, finding that tantalum in a fast neutron flux, displays an improvement in shielding performance over time due to the formation ¹⁸²Ta that increases the scattering and absorption of neutrons in lower energy channels.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":387,"journal":{"name":"Materials Today","volume":"88 ","pages":"Pages 36-44"},"PeriodicalIF":22.0,"publicationDate":"2025-06-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144841850","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":"Resistive random access memory based artificial neural network for brain-inspired neuromorphic computing","authors":"Xiao Sun ,&nbsp;Zhipeng Xia ,&nbsp;Tianyu Wang ,&nbsp;Boyan Jin ,&nbsp;Jialin Meng","doi":"10.1016/j.mattod.2025.06.002","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.mattod.2025.06.002","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div><span><span>Due to the limitations of size reduction in traditional memory and the von Neumann bottleneck of traditional computing systems, neuromorphic computing based on </span>resistive random access memory<span> (RRAM) has become a promising candidate in artificial intelligence algorithms. RRAM consists of metal two electrode layers sandwiching an intermediate functional layer, the functional layer of RRAM offers exceptional versatility in material selection, which allows RRAM devices<span><span> to exhibit distinct performance characteristics. The principle of RRAM relies on modulating resistance through controlled formation and rupture of conductive filaments<span> in the functional layer via electrical or other stimuli, which enables both resistive switching and multilevel cell (MLC) storage characteristics. These characteristics enable synaptic plasticity-mimicking biological synapses that update their weights through action potential (AP) transmission. This intrinsic similarity makes RRAM particularly suitable for emulating synaptic functions in neuromorphic systems. Inspired by the brain’s architecture, researchers have engineered </span></span>memristor arrays using RRAM devices to emulate densely interconnected biological synapses. Advanced implementations include three-dimensional (3D) memristors with multi-layer structures and hybrid systems integrating RRAM with complementary hardware/software platforms. These innovations have facilitated the development of </span></span></span>artificial neural networks<span> (ANNs) based on RRAM technology, which are now being deployed for high-efficiency data processing and recognition tasks. This paper begins with RRAM materials, providing a detailed analysis of RRAM’s Resistive switching, ultra-low power consumption, reliability, and MLC storage characteristics. It comprehensively summarizes the synaptic plasticity of RRAM based artificial synapses, including short-term plasticity (STP) and long-term plasticity (LTP), classical Pavlov’s dog experiments, and spike-timing-dependent plasticity (STDP) and spike-rate-dependent plasticity (SRDP). Building on this foundation, this paper introduces RRAM based ANNs and divides them into four different types according to its components and spatial structure, and then deeply discusses the application of artificial neural network (ANN) in data processing and recognition. Finally, challenges and outlooks of RRAM for neuromorphic computing are also deeply discussed.</span></div></div>","PeriodicalId":387,"journal":{"name":"Materials Today","volume":"88 ","pages":"Pages 567-584"},"PeriodicalIF":22.0,"publicationDate":"2025-06-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144841950","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":"Novel solid state of silica with ultra-high specific surface area","authors":"Dmitry A. Kurdyukov ,&nbsp;Daniil A. Eurov ,&nbsp;Ekaterina Y. Stovpiaga ,&nbsp;Demid A. Kirilenko ,&nbsp;Maria V. Tomkovich ,&nbsp;Maria A. Yagovkina ,&nbsp;Mikhail V. Rybin ,&nbsp;Valery G. Golubev","doi":"10.1016/j.mattod.2025.06.006","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.mattod.2025.06.006","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Catalysis, sorption, separation, energy storage, and biomedicine applications demand well-developed surface area materials. Nanoporous carbon has the largest specific surface area (SSA) among inorganic materials, of about 3000 m² g⁻¹, due to its unique atomic-thin structure. However, the practical efficiency of a material depends on its functional group number, chemical and thermal stability, toxicity, composition purity, and hydrophilicity, and the existing high-SSA materials do not sufficiently satisfy these requirements. Here we report on the synthesis of a new solid state of silica in the form of crumpled sheets of silicon-oxygen tetrahedra with an ultra-high (UH) SSA of 2500 m² g⁻¹. The material prepared by wet chemical synthesis consists of hydrated silica and organic groups mixed at the molecular level, which are associated through the Coulomb and van der Waals forces. After a soft removal of organics, the resulting UH SSA silica has a complex openwork structure with nano-sized pores (0.5–3 nm) separated from each other by the sheet with the thickness close to silicon-oxygen tetrahedron. The obtained micro-mesoporous material has an extremely hydroxylated form, high concentration of surface silanol groups stabilizing the delicate structure and determining its hydrophilicity and tunable surface functionalization, it is also incombustible, non-toxic, biocompatible and environment friendly. These advantageous properties would significantly improve application characteristics, for instance, high adsorption capability, stability in harsh conditions, high sensitivity and selectivity.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":387,"journal":{"name":"Materials Today","volume":"88 ","pages":"Pages 146-154"},"PeriodicalIF":22.0,"publicationDate":"2025-06-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144841548","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":"Protein-based spherical nanoparticles for dsRNA delivery to nematodes – A platform technology for RNA silencing","authors":"Patrick Opdensteinen ,&nbsp;Adam A. Caparco ,&nbsp;Nicole F. Steinmetz","doi":"10.1016/j.mattod.2025.06.001","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.mattod.2025.06.001","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Phytoparasitic nematodes are widespread agricultural pests that cause severe damage to roots, resulting in significant crop losses. Chemical control with nematicides is the conventional pest management strategy, but this is a threat to beneficial species and human health. Furthermore, indiscriminate use leads to the emergence of resistant pest populations. Phytoparasitic nematodes can also be controlled by RNA interference (RNAi), a eukaryote defense mechanism against invasive nucleic acids that is triggered by double stranded RNA (dsRNA) and causes the specific cleavage or translational repression of the corresponding mRNA. More than 75 genes in phytoparasitic nematodes have been targeted by RNAi under laboratory conditions, but the application of RNAi in the field is limited by delivery barriers such as inefficient cellular uptake and RNA degradation. The latter is particularly important when targeting soil-dwelling nematodes because free RNA is not stable in soil. We therefore encapsulated dsRNA in proteinaceous spherical nanoparticles (SNPs) formed by the thermal annealing of coat proteins from tobacco mild green mosaic virus (TMGMV). We optimized loading of dsRNA into SNPs by charge neutralization and condensation of dsRNA with Mg²⁺ at pH &lt; 3.0, allowing us to encapsulate up to 0.2 mg dsRNA per 1.0 mg of SNPs, 100–200 nm in diameter. This was a 10-fold improvement over the non-optimized dsRNA-SNP formulation (i.e. encapsulation of dsRNA without charge neutralization and condensation). A transgenic <em>Caenorhabditis elegans</em> line constitutively expressing mCherry was used as a model to confirm that dsRNA remains functional and triggers RNAi following the ingestion of dsRNA-laden SNPs. The silencing effect lasted ∼180 h and reduced mCherry fluorescence by 76.2 ± 13.6 %. We confirmed that dsRNA-loaded SNPs retain their silencing activity when passed through a soil column, indicating that the RNAi-based control of phytoparasitic nematodes using SNPs should be possible in the field.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":387,"journal":{"name":"Materials Today","volume":"88 ","pages":"Pages 117-128"},"PeriodicalIF":22.0,"publicationDate":"2025-06-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144841545","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":"High-k zwitterionic dielectric elastomers with internal plasticization for low-voltage actuation","authors":"Gimin Sung ,&nbsp;Changhoon Yu ,&nbsp;Jae-Man Park ,&nbsp;Yun Hyeok Lee ,&nbsp;Chang Seo Park ,&nbsp;Hakjun Lee ,&nbsp;Min Sang Kwon ,&nbsp;Jeong-Yun Sun","doi":"10.1016/j.mattod.2025.05.023","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.mattod.2025.05.023","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>High dielectric constant (high-k) elastomers have been the focus of numerous studies, particularly for the low-voltage operation of dielectric elastomer actuators (DEAs). However, existing methods to achieve both mechanical softness and high-k properties have been dependent on external additives, such as solvents or conductive species, which limit the efficient charge accumulation on the dielectric surfaces at high voltage. We synthesized high-k zwitterionic dielectric elastomers by copolymerizing a zwitterionic monomer with a low glass transition temperature (<em>Tg</em>) monomer. The low <em>Tg</em> comonomer, which serves as an internal plasticizer, facilitates the orientation polarization of zwitterion side chains. The resulting dielectric elastomer exhibits both a significantly elevated dielectric constant (49.6 @ 10 Hz) and high compliance (2.6 MPa⁻¹) at room temperature compared to pure zwitterionic polymers. Its exceptional electromechanical sensitivity enables an unprecedented low-field DEA operation, demonstrating 100 % areal strain using only household electricity (220 V_AC, ∼11.4 V/μm). This work proposes a simple intramolecular approach for designing novel high-k soft dielectrics that can be widely adopted for various polar polymers.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":387,"journal":{"name":"Materials Today","volume":"88 ","pages":"Pages 109-116"},"PeriodicalIF":22.0,"publicationDate":"2025-06-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144841778","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":"Room-temperature ferromagnetism in monolayer WSe2","authors":"Rehan Younas ,&nbsp;Guanyu Zhou ,&nbsp;Xinyu Liu ,&nbsp;Sabyasachi Tiwari ,&nbsp;Nguyen M. Vu ,&nbsp;William G. Vandenberghe ,&nbsp;Badih A. Assaf ,&nbsp;John T. Heron ,&nbsp;Christopher L. Hinkle","doi":"10.1016/j.mattod.2025.06.003","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.mattod.2025.06.003","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Substitutional doping of magnetic impurities in monolayer transition metal dichalcogenides is a potentially promising route to create above room temperature 2D ferromagnets. Recent reports, however, reveal significant inconsistencies between multiple experimental observations and theoretical calculations. To unravel these apparent discrepancies, a comprehensive study is performed. It is found that while magnetic dopants (V and Fe) substitutionally replace the W for concentrations up to 35 %, no ferromagnetism is observed in these doped WSe₂ monolayers with minimal point defects. The suppression of the theoretically predicted ferromagnetic order at these doping levels is due to clustering of the dopants which is observed and quantified from plan-view transmission electron microscopy. Room-temperature ferromagnetism <em>is</em> observed when the doped monolayers contain a significant concentration of selenium vacancies (Se_vac). These vacancies were intentionally created via a post-growth annealing process and magnetism is seen to scale with annealing time/vacancy concentration. In fact, very similar ferromagnetism is seen even in undoped WSe₂ with Se_vac &gt; 10¹⁴ cm⁻² suggesting an easier potential route to synthesize room-temperature 2D ferromagnets compared to metal substitution. These findings can explain all the discrepancies in the literature and suggest that no room-temperature ferromagnetism in WSe₂ has been reported that was not caused by high levels of Se vacancies.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":387,"journal":{"name":"Materials Today","volume":"88 ","pages":"Pages 129-136"},"PeriodicalIF":22.0,"publicationDate":"2025-06-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144841546","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}