December 2011 Volume 10, Issue 12

Editorial

A beautiful prize p897
doi:10.1038/nmat3197
The 2011 Nobel Prize in Chemistry awarded for the discovery of quasicrystals recognizes a breakthrough that has fundamental scientific consequences.
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Commentary

The route to resource-efficient novel materials pp899 - 901
S. Krohns, P. Lunkenheimer, S. Meissner, A. Reller, B. Gleich, A. Rathgeber, T. Gaugler, H. U. Buhl, D. C. Sinclair and A. Loidl
doi:10.1038/nmat3180
Combining the efforts of physicists, materials scientists, economists and resource-strategy researchers opens up an interdisciplinary route enabling the substitution of rare elements by more abundant ones, serving as a guideline for the development of novel materials.
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Research Highlights

Around the bend | Microfluidic origami | Carbon in hot spots | Design rules for superlattices | Aiming at the injured heart

News and Views

Correction

Correction p909
doi:10.1038/nmat3198
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News and Views

Review

Plasmonic-metal nanostructures for efficient conversion of solar to chemical energy pp911 - 921
Suljo Linic, Phillip Christopher and David B. Ingram
doi:10.1038/nmat3151
Although heterogeneous photocatalysts for converting solar to chemical energy are mostly semiconductors, metallic plasmonic nanostructures have started to attract interest. Recent progress on plasmon-enhanced, water-splitting composite photocatalysts and photocatalytic reactions on the surface of plasmonic nanostructures of noble metals are now reviewed.
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Letters

Atomic structure of nanoclusters in oxide-dispersion-strengthened steels pp922 - 926
A. Hirata, T. Fujita, Y. R. Wen, J. H. Schneibel, C. T. Liu and M. W. Chen
doi:10.1038/nmat3150
Oxide nanoprecipitates with typical sizes of smaller than five nanometres have been known to considerably enhance the mechanical properties of steel. An atomic-scale characterization is now able to directly verify the crystal structure of these stable oxide nanoclusters.
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Conductive dense hydrogen  pp927 - 931
M. I. Eremets and I. A. Troyan
doi:10.1038/nmat3175
Molecular hydrogen is expected to display metallic properties under high pressures, but so far experiments performed at low temperatures (<100K) have showed that hydrogen remains insulating up to 300 GPa. A transformation of normal molecular hydrogen to a conductive and metallic state at room temperature is now observed above 220 GPa.
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See also: News and Views by Jephcoat

Kinetic frustration and the nature of the magnetic and paramagnetic states in iron pnictides and iron chalcogenides pp932 - 935
Z. P. Yin, K. Haule and G. Kotliar
doi:10.1038/nmat3120
Iron-based superconductors all share the same building blocks. So why do local magnetic properties vary from one compound to another? A new theoretical model explains the variation in physical properties and links it to the structural differences, providing a description for a wide range of materials.
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Colloidal nanoplatelets with two-dimensional electronic structure pp936 - 941
S. Ithurria, M. D. Tessier, B. Mahler, R. P. S. M. Lobo, B. Dubertret and Al. L. Efros
doi:10.1038/nmat3145
Semiconductor nanocrystals have for many years attracted attention for their optical properties and their potential use as superior fluorescence emitters. It is now shown that nanoplatelets can be controllably synthesized and have even more attractive properties.
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See also: News and Views by Scholes

Self-assembly of highly ordered conjugated polymer aggregates with long-range energy transfer pp942 - 946
Jan Vogelsang, Takuji Adachi, Johanna Brazard, David A. Vanden Bout and Paul F. Barbara
doi:10.1038/nmat3127
Conjugated polymers are applied widely in organic optoelectronic devices. The performance of these devices depends critically on polymer morphology, which can be modified by solvent vapour annealing. This process has now been controlled on mesoscopic length scales, bridging the gap between single-molecule and bulk studies, and revealing long-range energy transport in ordered polymer aggregates.
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Organic tailored batteries materials using stable open-shell molecules with degenerate frontier orbitals pp947 - 951
Yasushi Morita, Shinsuke Nishida, Tsuyoshi Murata, Miki Moriguchi, Akira Ueda, Masaharu Satoh, Kazunori Arifuku, Kazunobu Sato and Takeji Takui
doi:10.1038/nmat3142
Secondary batteries using organic electrode-active materials promise to surpass present lithium-ion batteries in terms of safety and price. Organic molecules with degenerate molecular orbitals as electrode-active materials are now used in high-capacity organic batteries exceeding 300 A h kg⁻¹.
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Hierarchical folding of elastic membranes under biaxial compressive stress pp952 - 957
Pilnam Kim, Manouk Abkarian and Howard A. Stone
doi:10.1038/nmat3144
It is shown that an elastic film on a viscoelastic substrate under biaxial compressive stress forms a hierarchical network of folds generated by repetitive wrinkle-to-fold transitions. The morphology of the hierarchical patterns can be controlled by modifying the geometry and boundary conditions of the membrane.
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See also: News and Views by Reis

Articles

Resolving strain in carbon nanotubes at the atomic level pp958 - 962
Jamie H. Warner, Neil P. Young, Angus I. Kirkland and G. Andrew D. Briggs
doi:10.1038/nmat3125
It is easy to imagine that carbon nanotubes deform under strain, but the microscopic mechanism of deformation is difficult to relate to the large-scale one. Through aberration-corrected transmission microscopy the atomic displacement under bending is now mapped out, revealing unexpected details.
Abstract | Full Text | PDF

Flexoelectric rotation of polarization in ferroelectric thin films pp963 - 967
G. Catalan, A. Lubk, A. H. G. Vlooswijk, E. Snoeck, C. Magen, A. Janssens, G. Rispens, G. Rijnders, D. H. A. Blank and B. Noheda
doi:10.1038/nmat3141
The close relationship between crystal structure and electric polarization in ferroelectrics means that strain strongly influences their properties. The demonstration of how strain gradients leading to a higher-order effect, flexoelectricity, can be used to rotate electric polarization in thin films indicates new ways of controlling piezoelectricity by purely mechanical means.
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Tuning upconversion through energy migration in core–shell nanoparticles pp968 - 973
Feng Wang, Renren Deng, Juan Wang, Qingxiao Wang, Yu Han, Haomiao Zhu, Xueyuan Chen and Xiaogang Liu
doi:10.1038/nmat3149
Nonlinear optical upconversion processes in nanoparticles, which convert long-wavelength light into short-wavelength emission, are promising for applications such as biological imaging, optical data storage and others. The flexible tuning of upconversion properties in core–shell nanoparticles now offers unprecedented control over the nonlinear optical properties of the nanoparticles.
Abstract | Full Text | PDF
See also: News and Views by Kotov

Molecular control of quantum-dot internal electric field and its application to CdSe-based solar cells pp974 - 979
Nir Yaacobi-Gross, Michal Soreni-Harari, Marina Zimin, Shifi Kababya, Asher Schmidt and Nir Tessler
doi:10.1038/nmat3133
Inorganic nanocrystals are attractive materials for solar-cell applications. However, their performance is often limited by an insufficient alignment of internal energy levels. A tuning of these energy levels has now been achieved by attaching two different molecules to a single nanocrystal, which significantly alters its electronic and optoelectronic properties.
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Electrochemical activation and inhibition of neuromuscular systems through modulation of ion concentrations with ion-selective membranes pp980 - 986
Yong-Ak Song, Rohat Melik, Amr N. Rabie, Ahmed M. S. Ibrahim, David Moses, Ara Tan, Jongyoon Han and Samuel J. Lin
doi:10.1038/nmat3146
An electrochemical method that uses ion-selective membranes to electrically modulate ion concentrations in situ along a sciatic nerve in vitro allows for on-demand reversible inhibition of signal propagation as well as up to 40% reduction of the electrical threshold for stimulation. The method may be applicable in implantable neuroprosthetic devices.
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Corrigenda

Turning aluminium into a noble-metal-like catalyst for low-temperature activation of molecular hydrogen p986
Irinder S. Chopra, Santanu Chaudhuri, Jean Francois Veyan and Yves J. Chabal
doi:10.1038/nmat3174
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Poisson's ratio and modern materials p986
G. N. Greaves, A. L. Greer, R. S. Lakes and T. Rouxel
doi:10.1038/nmat3177
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