Physical sciences articles within Nature Communications Article 14 March 2023 | Open Access AlphaFlow: autonomous discovery and optimization of multi-step chemistry using a self-driven fluidic lab guided by reinforcement learning Autonomous exploration of materials design space is hindered by its high dimensionality and the scarcity of data.… show more Amanda A. Volk, Robert W. Epps & Milad Abolhasani Article 14 March 2023 | Open Access 1,2,4,5-Tetrazine-tethered probes for fluorogenically imaging superoxide in live cells with ultrahigh specificity Specific detection of cellular superoxide is challenging. Here, the authors designed 1,2,4,5-tetrazine based… show more Xuefeng Jiang, Min Li & Xin Li Article 13 March 2023 | Open Access Li3TiCl6 as ionic conductive and compressible positive electrode active material for all-solid-state lithium-based batteries An ideal positive electrode for all-solid-state Li batteries should be ionic conductive and compressible.… show more Kai Wang, Zhenqi Gu & Cheng Ma Article 13 March 2023 | Open Access Controlling doping efficiency in organic semiconductors by tuning short-range overscreening Doping is widely adopted to make organic semiconductors more conductive, yet the impact of molecular electronic… show more Jonas Armleder, Tobias Neumann & Artem Fediai Article 13 March 2023 | Open Access Multistability, intermittency, and hybrid transitions in social contagion models on hypergraphs Social interactions often occur in groups of individuals, which can be mathematically represented as hypergraphs.… show more Guilherme Ferraz de Arruda, Giovanni Petri & Yamir Moreno Article 13 March 2023 | Open Access Emergent chirality in a polar meron to skyrmion phase transition Polar skyrmions are particle-like objects consisted of swirling electric dipoles that hold promise for next… show more Yu-Tsun Shao, Sujit Das & David A. Muller Article 13 March 2023 | Open Access Aqueous spinning of robust, self-healable, and crack-resistant hydrogel microfibers enabled by hydrogen bond nanoconfinement Hydrogels with homogenous structure are vulnerable to defects and cracks, and local mechanical failure occurs… show more Yingkun Shi, Baohu Wu & Peiyi Wu Article 13 March 2023 | Open Access Acidic graphene organocatalyst for the superior transformation of wastes into high-added-value chemicals Upcycling glycerol can substantially contribute to circular carbon economy. Here, an amino acid-functionalized… show more Aby Cheruvathoor Poulose, Miroslav Medveď & Radek Zbořil Article 13 March 2023 | Open Access Photothermally induced natural vibration for versatile and high-speed actuation of crystals Soft robotics is a growing field, and requires versatile actuation methodology. Here, the authors report… show more Yuki Hagiwara, Shodai Hasebe & Hideko Koshima Article 13 March 2023 | Open Access Mixed-valence molybdenum oxide as a recyclable sorbent for silver removal and recovery from wastewater Silver ions in wastewater are a major health hazard, and there is an urgent need to develop methods to reliably… show more Penghui Shao, Ziwen Chang & Liming Yang Article 13 March 2023 | Open Access General approach to surface-accessible plasmonic Pickering emulsions for SERS sensing and interfacial catalysis The preparation of Pickering emulsions from nanoparticles commonly requires modification of the particles’… show more Yingrui Zhang, Ziwei Ye & Yikai Xu Article 13 March 2023 | Open Access High thermoelectric efficiency realized in SnSe crystals via structural modulation Thermoelectric technology directly enables both power generation and electronic cooling. Here, the authors… show more Bingchao Qin, Dongyang Wang & Li-Dong Zhao Article 13 March 2023 | Open Access Reducing charge noise in quantum dots by using thin silicon quantum wells Charge noise degrades the performance of spin qubits hindering scalability. Here the authors engineer the… show more Brian Paquelet Wuetz, Davide Degli Esposti & Giordano Scappucci Article 13 March 2023 | Open Access In situ acid etching boosts mercury accommodation capacities of transition metal sulfides There is an urgent need to develop efficient strategies to remove elemental mercury from industrial flue gases.… show more Hailong Li, Jiaoqin Zheng & Zequn Yang Article 13 March 2023 | Open Access Trifunctional nanoprecipitates ductilize and toughen a strong laminated metastable titanium alloy Engineering metastability can enhance the ductility of alloys, but it often comes at an expense of relatively low… show more Chongle Zhang, Shuaiyang Liu & Jun Sun Article 13 March 2023 | Open Access Laser-induced topological spin switching in a 2D van der Waals magnet Van der Waals magnetic materials, which maintain their magnetic ordering down to a monolayer have been found to… show more Maya Khela, Maciej Da̧browski & Elton J. G. Santos Article 13 March 2023 | Open Access Hybrid molecular graphene transistor as an operando and optoelectronic platform Molecular electronics represents an avenue to enrich conventional electronics, but its reproducibility and… show more Jorge Trasobares, Juan Carlos Martín-Romano & Daniel Granados Article 11 March 2023 | Open Access Fano interference between collective modes in cuprate high-Tc superconductors Cuprate superconductors are known for their intertwined interactions and coexistence of competing orders. Here,… show more Hao Chu, Sergey Kovalev & Stefan Kaiser Review Article 11 March 2023 | Open Access Smartphone-based platforms implementing microfluidic detection with image-based artificial intelligence Smartphone-based mobile health platforms have drawn increasing attention from researchers developing… show more Bangfeng Wang, Yiwei Li & Bi-Feng Liu Article 11 March 2023 | Open Access The collective burst mechanism of angular jumps in liquid water The collective nature of reorientational dynamics in water remains poorly understood. Here, the authors show that… show more Adu Offei-Danso, Uriel N. Morzan & Asja Jelic Article 11 March 2023 | Open Access Mammalian-brain-inspired neuromorphic motion-cognition nerve achieves cross-modal perceptual enhancement Inspired by the multisensory cue integration in macaque’s brain for spatial perception, the authors develop a… show more Chengpeng Jiang, Jiaqi Liu & Wentao Xu Article 11 March 2023 | Open Access Interface synergism and engineering of Pd/Co@N-C for direct ethanol fuel cells It is challenging to develop high-activity and durable catalysts for both ethanol oxidation reaction on the anode… show more Jinfa Chang, Guanzhi Wang & Yang Yang Article 11 March 2023 | Open Access Room temperature nondestructive encapsulation via self-crosslinked fluorosilicone polymer enables damp heat-stable sustainable perovskite solar cells Encapsulation engineering is an effective strategy to improve the stability of perovskite solar cells. Here,… show more Tong Wang, Jiabao Yang & Xuanhua Li Article 11 March 2023 | Open Access Real-time single-molecule 3D tracking in E. coli based on cross-entropy minimization Single-molecule 3D tracking is critical to understand macromolecular dynamics but achieving this at a… show more Elias Amselem, Bo Broadwater & Johan Elf Article 11 March 2023 | Open Access Submesoscale inverse energy cascade enhances Southern Ocean eddy heat transport Based on two high-resolution simulations, the authors find that submesoscale eddies significantly boost poleward… show more Zhiwei Zhang, Yuelin Liu & Jiwei Tian Article 10 March 2023 | Open Access Double dome structure of the Bose–Einstein condensation in diluted S = 3/2 quantum magnets Previous studies of magnetic Bose–Einstein condensates have been limited to magnetic materials with small spin… show more Yoshito Watanabe, Atsushi Miyake & Taka-hisa Arima Article 10 March 2023 | Open Access Nanoarchitecture factors of solid electrolyte interphase formation via 3D nano-rheology microscopy and surface force-distance spectroscopy Characterization of the solid electrolyte interphase formed on Li-ion battery electrodes presents significant… show more Yue Chen, Wenkai Wu & Oleg V. Kolosov Article 10 March 2023 | Open Access 3D printing of dynamic covalent polymer network with on-demand geometric and mechanical reprogrammability 3D printing allows preparation of versatile polymer materials for device applications, but properties are often… show more Zizheng Fang, Yunpeng Shi & Tao Xie Article 10 March 2023 | Open Access Polymerizable rotaxane hydrogels for three-dimensional printing fabrication of wearable sensors While hydrogels find applications in wearable sensors and electronic skins, they are prone to fatigue fractures… show more Xueru Xiong, Yunhua Chen & Yanli Zhao Article 10 March 2023 | Open Access The dynamic nature of percolation on networks with triadic interactions Triadic interactions are higher-order interactions relevant to many real complex systems. The authors develop a… show more Hanlin Sun, Filippo Radicchi & Ginestra Bianconi Article 10 March 2023 | Open Access Vibrational signature of hydrated protons confined in MXene interlayers Intercalation of protons in 2D materials plays a major role for several applications in energy storage and… show more Mailis Lounasvuori, Yangyunli Sun & Tristan Petit Article 10 March 2023 | Open Access Creating complex protocells and prototissues using simple DNA building blocks Building synthetic protocells and prototissues hinges on the formation of biomimetic skeletal frameworks. Here,… show more Nishkantha Arulkumaran, Mervyn Singer & Jonathan R. Burns Article 10 March 2023 | Open Access Multiphoton excited singlet/triplet mixed self-trapped exciton emission Here the author study Self-trapped exciton emission for multiphoton excited luminescence in ZnO nanoparticle… show more Rui Zhou, Laizhi Sui & Chongxin Shan Article 10 March 2023 | Open Access Ultrahigh loading dry-process for solvent-free lithium-ion battery electrode fabrication Scalable dry electrode process is essential for the sustainable manufacturing of the lithium based batteries.… show more Minje Ryu, Young-Kuk Hong & Jong Hyeok Park Article 10 March 2023 | Open Access Decrypting the programming of β-methylation in virginiamycin M biosynthesis Biosynthesis of complex polyketides by polyketide synthases often relies on trans-acting enzymes to modify the… show more Sabrina Collin, Russell J. Cox & Arnaud Gruez Article 10 March 2023 | Open Access Lantern-shaped flexible RNA origami for Smad4 mRNA delivery and growth suppression of colorectal cancer mRNA delivery has shown great potential in the treatment of various diseases. Here, the authors develop a… show more Muren Hu, Chang Feng & Xiaoli Zhu Article 09 March 2023 | Open Access Understanding the evolution of lithium dendrites at Li6.25Al0.25La3Zr2O12 grain boundaries via operando microscopy techniques Lithium metal penetration into solid-state electrolytes is a major drawback for developing all-solid-state… show more Chao Zhu, Till Fuchs & Rüdiger Berger Article 09 March 2023 | Open Access Cobalt-catalyzed enantioselective intramolecular reductive cyclization via electrochemistry 1,6 enynes are a useful synthetic building block, but their use asymmetric intramolecular reductive couplings… show more Shiquan Gao, Chen Wang & Junliang Zhang Article 09 March 2023 | Open Access From a microscopic inertial active matter model to the Schrödinger equation Active field theories are powerful tools to explain phenomena such as motility-induced phase separation. The… show more Michael te Vrugt, Tobias Frohoff-Hülsmann & Raphael Wittkowski Article 09 March 2023 | Open Access Accelerating electrochemical CO2 reduction to multi-carbon products via asymmetric intermediate binding at confined nanointerfaces CO2 electroreduction to multi-carbon products in acids remains challenging due to the low efficiency and poor… show more Jin Zhang, Chenxi Guo & Miao Zhong Article 09 March 2023 | Open Access Naked metallic skin for homo-epitaxial deposition in lithium metal batteries The oxide passivation layer on the lithium metal surface causes uneven deposition and stripping in lithium metal… show more Minsung Baek, Jinyoung Kim & Jang Wook Choi Article 09 March 2023 | Open Access Quantum enhanced radio detection and ranging with solid spins Quantum sensors based on NV centers in diamond are well established, however the sensitivity of detection of… show more Xiang-Dong Chen, En-Hui Wang & Fang-Wen Sun Article 09 March 2023 | Open Access A general highly efficient synthesis of biocompatible rhodamine dyes and probes for live-cell multicolor nanoscopy Rhodamines are privileged fluorescent dyes for labelling intracellular structures in living cells. Here, the… show more Jonas Bucevičius, Rūta Gerasimaitė & Gražvydas Lukinavičius Article 09 March 2023 | Open Access High-efficiency gold recovery by additive-induced supramolecular polymerization of β-cyclodextrin Eco-friendly, efficient, and selective gold recovery technologies are urgently desired to satisfy the increasing… show more Huang Wu, Yu Wang & J. Fraser Stoddart Article 08 March 2023 | Open Access Size limits the sensitivity of kinetic schemes Living things rely on extremely sensitive molecular circuits. Here, authors uncover a universal structural limit… show more Jeremy A. Owen & Jordan M. Horowitz Article 08 March 2023 | Open Access Phase formation capability and compositional design of β-phase multiple rare-earth principal component disilicates Developing high-entropy environmental barrier coatings is challenged by the intricacy to form stable… show more Yixiu Luo, Luchao Sun & Jingyang Wang Article 08 March 2023 | Open Access Reshoring silicon photovoltaics manufacturing contributes to decarbonization and climate change mitigation Reshoring silicon photovoltaic manufacturing back to the U.S. improves domestic competitiveness, advances… show more Haoyue Liang & Fengqi You Article 07 March 2023 | Open Access Engineering zero modes in transformable mechanical metamaterials Reconfigurable elastic properties are essential for functional mechanical metamaterials. Here, the authors… show more Zhou Hu, Zhibo Wei & Gengkai Hu Article 07 March 2023 | Open Access Self-folding soft-robotic chains with reconfigurable shapes and functionalities Minimally invasive surgeries call for surgical tools that can work at the mesoscale. Here, Gu et al. present a… show more Hongri Gu, Marino Möckli & Bradley J. Nelson Article 07 March 2023 | Open Access Transient dynamics of the phase transition in VO2 revealed by mega-electron-volt ultrafast electron diffraction The atomic pathway in the photoinduced ultrafast structural phase transition of VO2 has been a controversial… show more Chenhang Xu, Cheng Jin & Dong Qian