Physical sciences Article 27 December 2022 | Open Access Microporous organic nanotube assisted design of high performance nanofiltration membranes Microporous organic nanotubes (MONs) hold considerable promise for designing molecular-sieving membranes because… show more Shuangqiao Han, Junyong Zhu & Menachem Elimelech Article 27 December 2022 | Open Access Active hydrogen boosts electrochemical nitrate reduction to ammonia While electrochemical conversion of nitrate to ammonia offers a renewable means to remediate waste compounds, it… show more Kui Fan, Wenfu Xie & Mingfei Shao Article 27 December 2022 | Open Access Oriented intergrowth of the catalyst layer in membrane electrode assembly for alkaline water electrolysis While membrane electrode assembly water electrolyzers are a promising renewable energy technology, further… show more Lei Wan, Maobin Pang & Baoguo Wang Article 27 December 2022 | Open Access The effect of residual palladium on the performance of organic electrochemical transistors The optimization of organic mixed ionic-electronic conductor is critical to realize high performance organic… show more Sophie Griggs, Adam Marks & Iain McCulloch Article 27 December 2022 | Open Access Transition-metal free C–N bond formation from alkyl iodides and diazonium salts via halogen-atom transfer The pursuit of efficient C–N bond formation is a prime focus of synthetic organic chemistry. Here, the authors… show more Jing Zhang, Min Jiang & Xinxin Shao Article 26 December 2022 | Open Access Physical deep learning with biologically inspired training method: gradient-free approach for physical hardware Traditional learning procedures for artificial intelligence rely on digital methods not suitable for physical… show more Mitsumasa Nakajima, Katsuma Inoue & Kohei Nakajima Article 26 December 2022 | Open Access Observation of enhanced nanoscale creep flow of crystalline metals enabled by controlling surface wettability Solid-solid interface friction usually becomes the bottleneck at micro/nanoscale. Here, Xiang and Liu show that… show more Jun-Xiang Xiang & Ze Liu Article 26 December 2022 | Open Access Single planar photonic chip with tailored angular transmission for multiple-order analog spatial differentiator The authors present a planar photonic chip, which operate as a multiple-order analog spatial differentiator. It… show more Yang Liu, Mingchuan Huang & Douguo Zhang Article 26 December 2022 | Open Access Deformation characteristics of solid-state benzene as a step towards understanding planetary geology Solid benzene and other simple organic minerals play important roles in geological processes on Titan-like cold… show more Wenxin Zhang, Xuan Zhang & Julia R. Greer Article 26 December 2022 | Open Access A pH-responsive T1-T2 dual-modal MRI contrast agent for cancer imaging Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a well-established non-invasive medical imaging technology. Here, to improve… show more Hongwei Lu, An Chen & Leilei Tian Article 24 December 2022 | Open Access Highly active and stable OER electrocatalysts derived from Sr2MIrO6 for proton exchange membrane water electrolyzers While water splitting offers a renewable means to produce H2 fuel, most electrolyzers rely on scarce elements to… show more María Retuerto, Laura Pascual & Sergio Rojas Article 24 December 2022 | Open Access Centrifugal multimaterial 3D printing of multifunctional heterogeneous objects Multimaterial 3D printing using digital light processing (DLP) is challenging because multimaterial switching… show more Jianxiang Cheng, Rong Wang & Qi Ge Article 24 December 2022 | Open Access Guest-adaptive molecular sensing in a dynamic 3D covalent organic framework Organic macrocycles and cages have been well-developed as porous solids for gas detection but balancing… show more Lei Wei, Tu Sun & Yue-Biao Zhang Article 24 December 2022 | Open Access Molecular polariton electroabsorption The authors investigate whether strong light-matter coupling can alter the nonlinear optical response of… show more Chiao-Yu Cheng, Nina Krainova & Noel C. Giebink Article 24 December 2022 | Open Access Deconstructing body axis morphogenesis in zebrafish embryos using robot-assisted tissue micromanipulation Experimental microsurgery techniques are powerful for studying embryonic development but require highly trained… show more Ece Özelçi, Erik Mailand & Mahmut Selman Sakar Article 23 December 2022 | Open Access Dual fluorination of polymer electrolyte and conversion-type cathode for high-capacity all-solid-state lithium metal batteries The practical use of all-solid-state batteries is hindered by inadequate cycling performance. Here, the authors… show more Jiulin Hu, Chuanzhong Lai & Chilin Li Article 23 December 2022 | Open Access Accurate temperature diagnostics for matter under extreme conditions Existing methods for temperature estimation of warm dense matter rely on model calculations. Here the authors… show more Tobias Dornheim, Maximilian Böhme & Jan Vorberger Article 23 December 2022 | Open Access Iron-mediated ligand-to-metal charge transfer enables 1,2-diazidation of alkenes Alkene diazidations represent a promising strategy for the synthesis of 1,2-diamines. Here, the authors report a… show more Muliang Zhang, Jinghui Zhang & Yumeng Shi Article 23 December 2022 | Open Access Self-powered high-sensitivity all-in-one vertical tribo-transistor device for multi-sensing-memory-computing Designing efficient sensing-memory-computing systems remains a challenge. Here, the authors propose a… show more Yaqian Liu, Di Liu & Huipeng Chen Article 23 December 2022 | Open Access Electroreductive coupling of benzaldehyde by balancing the formation and dimerization of the ketyl intermediate Electroreductive coupling of benzaldehyde is mainly hindered by the mismatch between initial formation and… show more Jia Yu, Peng Zhang & Jinlong Gong Article 23 December 2022 | Open Access Multiscale structural control of thiostannate chalcogels with two-dimensional crystalline constituents Chalcogenide aerogels (chalcogels) are 3D porous materials with unique properties. Here the authors present a… show more Thanh Duy Cam Ha, Heehyeon Lee & Myung-Gil Kim Article 23 December 2022 | Open Access Unconventional exciton evolution from the pseudogap to superconducting phases in cuprates The nature of the excitations in the pseudogap regime and their relation to superconductivity remain core issues… show more A. Singh, H. Y. Huang & D. J. Huang Article 23 December 2022 | Open Access Photochemical diazidation of alkenes enabled by ligand-to-metal charge transfer and radical ligand transfer The difunctionalization of alkenes allows for efficient construction of molecular complexity. Combining… show more Kang-Jie Bian, Shih-Chieh Kao & Julian G. West Article 23 December 2022 | Open Access Three-dimensional Zn-based alloys for dendrite-free aqueous Zn battery in dual-cation electrolytes The dual-cations electrochemical system was considered to be a promising strategy to facilitate sluggish… show more Huajun Tian, Guangxia Feng & Yang Yang Article 23 December 2022 | Open Access Exploiting ferrofluidic wetting for miniature soft machines Ferrofluids with their extreme deformability are being used as soft machines. Using ferrofluids, Sun et al. show… show more Mengmeng Sun, Bo Hao & Li Zhang Article 22 December 2022 | Open Access Electrically conductive hybrid organic crystals as flexible optical waveguides The poor conductivity of organic crystals hinders their potential on applications in flexible electronics,… show more Xuesong Yang, Linfeng Lan & Hongyu Zhang Article 22 December 2022 | Open Access Ni-catalyzed benzylic β-C(sp3)–H bond activation of formamides The development of 3d-metal-catalyzed β-C–H bond activation via 4-membered metallacycles remains an elusive… show more Rong-Hua Wang, Wei-Wei Xu & Mengchun Ye Article 22 December 2022 | Open Access Slight compositional variation-induced structural disorder-to-order transition enables fast Na+ storage in layered transition metal oxides In layered transition metal oxides as cathode active materials for Na-ion batteries, Na+ diffusion kinetics are… show more Yuansheng Shi, Pengfeng Jiang & Xia Lu Article 22 December 2022 | Open Access A space-based quantum gas laboratory at picokelvin energy scales Ultracold ensembles are promising sources for precision measurements when their quantum state can precisely be… show more Naceur Gaaloul, Matthias Meister & Nicholas P. Bigelow Article 22 December 2022 | Open Access Intracellular phase separation of globular proteins facilitated by short cationic peptides Phase separation provides intracellular organisation via membraneless entities called biomolecular condensates.… show more Vivian Yeong, Jou-wen Wang & Allie C. Obermeyer Article 22 December 2022 | Open Access Plasmonic imaging of the layer-dependent electrocatalytic activity of two-dimensional catalysts Probing the localized electrocatalytic activity of heterogeneous electrocatalysts is crucial. Here, the authors… show more Xiaona Zhao, Xiao-Li Zhou & Xian-Wei Liu Matters Arising 22 December 2022 | Open Access Reply to: A balanced measure shows superior performance of pseudobulk methods in single-cell RNA-sequencing analysis Kip D. Zimmerman, Ciaran Evans & Carl D. Langefeld Matters Arising 22 December 2022 | Open Access A balanced measure shows superior performance of pseudobulk methods in single-cell RNA-sequencing analysis Alan E. Murphy & Nathan G. Skene Article 22 December 2022 | Open Access Compressed ultrahigh-speed single-pixel imaging by swept aggregate patterns The authors present single-pixel imaging accelerated via swept aggregate patterns (SPI-ASAP), which combines a… show more Patrick Kilcullen, Tsuneyuki Ozaki & Jinyang Liang Article 22 December 2022 | Open Access Atomic design of dual-metal hetero-single-atoms for high-efficiency synthesis of natural flavones The preparation of single-atom catalysts still suffers from metal aggregation and pore collapsing during… show more Xin Zhao, Ruiqi Fang & Yingwei Li Article 22 December 2022 | Open Access Simultaneous capturing phonon and electron dynamics in MXenes How electron energy damp to lattice vibrations (phonons) in MXenes has not yet been unraveled. Here, the authors… show more Qi Zhang, Jiebo Li & Xueming Yang Article 22 December 2022 | Open Access Switchable Na+ and K+ selectivity in an amino acid functionalized 2D covalent organic framework membrane Biological cell membranes can efficiently switch Na+/K+ selectivity in response to external stimuli but achieving… show more Li Cao, I-Chun Chen & Zhiping Lai Article 22 December 2022 | Open Access Creating superconductivity in WB2 through pressure-induced metastable planar defects In 2001 superconductivity with a high critical temperature of 39 K was discovered in MgB2, but efforts since then… show more J. Lim, A. C. Hire & G. R. Stewart Article 22 December 2022 | Open Access Ampere-level current density ammonia electrochemical synthesis using CuCo nanosheets simulating nitrite reductase bifunctional nature Electroreduction of NO3− to NH3 is drawing increasing interest. Here, the authors designed a CuCo catalyst… show more Jia-Yi Fang, Qi-Zheng Zheng & Shi-Gang Sun Article 22 December 2022 | Open Access The electric field cavity array effect of 2D nano-sieves Nanocomposites are promising dielectric candidates due to their nano-modification effect. Here authors report… show more Fan Xu, Yuke Li & Yu Wang Article 22 December 2022 | Open Access Ab initio calculation of real solids via neural network ansatz Solving the many-body electronic structure of real solids is a grand challenge in condensed matter physics and… show more Xiang Li, Zhe Li & Ji Chen Article 22 December 2022 | Open Access Entanglement-assisted quantum communication with simple measurements Quantifying communication capabilities produced by sharing an entangled qubit pair is still a subject of debate.… show more Amélie Piveteau, Jef Pauwels & Armin Tavakoli Article 22 December 2022 | Open Access Non-linear effects of secondary organic aerosol formation and properties in multi-precursor systems Tiny airborne particles play a critical role in two major environmental issues: climate change and air pollution.… show more Masayuki Takeuchi, Thomas Berkemeier & Nga Lee Ng Article 21 December 2022 | Open Access Photoprogrammable circularly polarized phosphorescence switching of chiral helical polyacetylene thin films ‘Pure organic room-temperature phosphorescence (RTP) materials with circularly polarized luminescence (CPL)… show more Zizhao Huang, Zhenyi He & Xiang Ma Article 21 December 2022 | Open Access Multi-dimensional data transmission using inverse-designed silicon photonics and microcombs The authors demonstrate a multi-dimensional communication scheme that combines wavelength- and mode- multiplexing… show more Ki Youl Yang, Chinmay Shirpurkar & Jelena Vučković Article 21 December 2022 | Open Access Single-shot 3D imaging with point cloud projection based on metadevice The authors present a single-shot 3D imaging approach utilizing carefully designed point clouds projection based… show more Xiaoli Jing, Ruizhe Zhao & Lingling Huang Article 21 December 2022 | Open Access Micro and nano-scale compartments guide the structural transition of silk protein monomers into silk fibers By following morphological changes in supramolecular assemblies of silkworm silk, the authors find that while the… show more D. Eliaz, S. Paul & U. Shimanovich Article 21 December 2022 | Open Access Quantitative phase contrast imaging with a nonlocal angle-selective metasurface The authors present an approach to phase imaging by using the non-local optical response of a… show more Anqi Ji, Jung-Hwan Song & Mark L. Brongersma Article 21 December 2022 | Open Access 20%-efficient polycrystalline Cd(Se,Te) thin-film solar cells with compositional gradient near the front junction Bandgap gradient is a promising approach to improve the open-circuit voltage in thin film solar cells. Here,… show more Deng-Bing Li, Sandip S. Bista & Yanfa Yan Article 21 December 2022 | Open Access Understanding variability in petroleum jet fuel life cycle greenhouse gas emissions to inform aviation decarbonization This study presents a global well-to-wake assessment of jet fuel greenhouse gas emissions with a range of… show more Liang Jing, Hassan M. El-Houjeiri & Joule A. Bergerson