首 页 >> 通知公告
Nature Materials contents_ July 2012
[2012-06-25]
Nature Materials


Advertisement
How to maximise nanopatterning performance of your FIB-SEM?

Visit Raith and learn how ELPHY MultiBeam's FLEXposure™ patterning modes improve FIB-SEM lithography.
TABLE OF CONTENTS

July 2012 Volume 11, Issue 7

Editorial
Commentary
Research Highlights
News and Views
Review
Letters
Articles


Subscribe
 
Facebook
 
RSS
 
Recommend to library
 
Twitter
 

Advertisement
Magnetoelectric phenomena and devices
24 - 25 September 2012 at The Royal Society, London.
This discussion meeting will bring together experts and leaders with an expertise in activity into materials and devices that interconvert magnetic and electrical signals. Free to attend, register now.
Naturejobs
 
Advertisement
The Naturejobs Career Expo London 2012  

UK's largest career fair and conference focused exclusively on the scientific world.
20 September 2012 - Business Design Centre, London, UK 

Register today! Career fair is FREE of charge. Conference fee is £40.
 

Editorial

Top

La méthode Hollande   p559
doi:10.1038/nmat3377
François Hollande, the new French president, has an opportunity to correct and consolidate five years of frantic research reforms under Nicolas Sarkozy.

Commentary

Top

Towards systems materials engineering   pp560 - 563
Peidong Yang and Jean-Marie Tarascon
doi:10.1038/nmat3367
System-level planning of theoretical and experimental efforts is increasingly important for the development of modern materials science.

Research Highlights

Top

Resist and sense | Visualizing plasmons | Guiding self-assembly | Oxidized spintronics | Ion transistor logic

News and Views

Top

Mechanical metamaterials: Materials that push back   pp565 - 566
Joseph N. Grima and Roberto Caruana-Gauci
doi:10.1038/nmat3364
Proposed mechanical metamaterials that contract under tension and expand on compression represent a new approach to realize mechanical properties yet unknown in nature that could lead to applications in microelectromechanical systems.

See also: Article by Nicolaou & Motter

Material witness: Against the flow   p566
Philip Ball
doi:10.1038/nmat3368

Quantum phase transitions: Emergent inhomogeneity   pp567 - 568
Lev B. Ioffe and Michael E. Gershenson
doi:10.1038/nmat3341
Experiments with superconductor–graphene hybrids, a novel platform to study quantum phase transitions, suggest that in the proximity of the critical point between superconducting and insulating phases, inhomogeneity emerges at large scales even in apparently uniform disordered systems.

See also: Letter by Allain et al.

Stem-cell differentiation: Anchoring cell-fate cues   pp568 - 569
Ovijit Chaudhuri and David J. Mooney
doi:10.1038/nmat3366
The spreading and differentiation of stem cells depends on the stiffness of the extracellular matrix. Now, experiments on human epidermal and mesenchymal stem cells cultured on substrates with covalently attached collagen fibres show that the cells sense and respond to the anchoring of the collagen fibres to the substrate.

See also: Article by Trappmann et al.

Plasmonic nanosensors: Inverse sensitivity   pp570 - 571
Mikael Käll
doi:10.1038/nmat3365
Enzyme-modified plasmonic nanoparticles that generate a signal that is larger when the concentration of the target molecule is lower can detect ultralow levels of the cancer biomarker prostate-specific antigen in whole serum.

See also: Letter by Rodríguez-Lorenzo et al.

Nature Materials
JOBS of the week
PhD student in Metallic Material behaviour Engineering at Université de LIEGE (1)
Université de Liège (ULg)
An Interdisciplinary Training Programme on the Origin of Life, Self-Replication, Dynamic Combinatorial Chemistry, Self-Assembling Materials and Analytical Chemistry.
University of Groningen/Centre for Systems Chemistry
Science Area Leader – Computational Materials Science
National Physical Laboratory
Integred Photonics: materials and devices
Rovira i Virgili University (URV)
Treatment of radioactive liquid effluents by ion exchange materials columns: experience and simulation
Mines Paris
More Science jobs from
Nature Materials
EVENT
3rd International Conference on the Physics of Optical Materials and Devices - ICOM 2012
03.-06.09.12
Belgrade, Serbia
More science events from

Review

Top

Active nanoplasmonic metamaterials   pp573 - 584
O. Hess, J. B. Pendry, S. A. Maier, R. F. Oulton, J. M. Hamm and K. L. Tsakmakidis
doi:10.1038/nmat3356
Metamaterials have a tremendous potential for applications from biophotonics to optical circuits, although progress has been hampered by intrinsic metal losses. This Review discusses the progress in countering such losses through the use of gain media to realize devices such as nanoplasmonic lasers or improved metamaterials for imaging and nonlinear optical applications.

Letters

Top

Scanning tunnelling microscopy imaging of symmetry-breaking structural distortion in the bismuth-based cuprate superconductors   pp585 - 589
Ilija Zeljkovic, Elizabeth J. Main, Tess L. Williams, M. C. Boyer, Kamalesh Chatterjee, W. D. Wise, Yi Yin, Martin Zech, Adam Pivonka, Takeshi Kondo, T. Takeuchi, Hiroshi Ikuta, Jinsheng Wen, Zhijun Xu, G. D. Gu, E. W. Hudson and Jennifer E. Hoffman
doi:10.1038/nmat3315
The so-called pseudogap is a feature of high-Tc superconductors that has puzzled scientists since its discovery. It is of widespread opinion that this feature is associated with a structural symmetry breaking. Now, a highly sensitive scanning tunnelling microscopy experiment shows that a specific structural symmetry is not, as many believed, at the origin of the pseudogap state.

Electrical control of the superconducting-to-insulating transition in graphene–metal hybrids   pp590 - 594
Adrien Allain, Zheng Han and Vincent Bouchiat
doi:10.1038/nmat3335
Although intrinsic superconductivity in graphene has not been demonstrated yet, superconductivity in this material can be induced by the proximity effect. The deposition of metallic nanoparticles on a graphene layer allows the status of graphene to be tuned from insulating to superconducting. This metal–graphene hybrid material can therefore be seen as a model system to elucidate the properties of inhomogeneous superconductors.

See also: News and Views by Ioffe & Gershenson

A red metallic oxide photocatalyst   pp595 - 598
Xiaoxiang Xu, Chamnan Randorn, Paraskevi Efstathiou and John T. S. Irvine
doi:10.1038/nmat3312
Light absorption across the bandgap in semiconductors is exploited in many important applications such as photovoltaics, light-emitting diodes and photocatalytic conversion, but whether coloured metals can be used in such applications is unclear. A red metallic oxide Sr1-xNbO3 is now shown to be effective under visible light to photocatalyse the oxidation of methylene blue, and the oxidation and reduction of water.

Blue-phase templated fabrication of three-dimensional nanostructures for photonic applications   pp599 - 603
F. Castles, F. V. Day, S. M. Morris, D-H. Ko, D. J. Gardiner, M. M. Qasim, S. Nosheen, P. J. W. Hands, S. S. Choi, R. H. Friend and H. J. Coles
doi:10.1038/nmat3330
Liquid-crystalline order can be templated in a material by refilling a photopolymerized liquid-crystal cast with the material after the non-polymerized portion has been washed out. This approach has now been used to template, in achiral liquid crystals, chiral three-dimensional blue phases with unprecedented thermal stability that are suitable for narrowband mirrorless lasing and switchable electro-optic devices.

Plasmonic nanosensors with inverse sensitivity by means of enzyme-guided crystal growth   pp604 - 607
Laura Rodríguez-Lorenzo, Roberto de la Rica, Ramón A. Álvarez-Puebla, Luis M. Liz-Marzán and Molly M. Stevens
doi:10.1038/nmat3337
Conventional sensors generate a signal that is directly proportional to the concentration of the target molecule. Now, by means of an enzyme that controls the growth of silver nanocrystals on plasmonic transducers, a nanosensor with sensitivity that is inversely proportional to concentration and that can detect ultralow concentrations of the cancer biomarker prostate-specific antigen in whole serum is demonstrated.

See also: News and Views by Käll

Articles

Top

Mechanical metamaterials with negative compressibility transitions   pp608 - 613
Zachary G. Nicolaou and Adilson E. Motter
doi:10.1038/nmat3331
Most materials expand along the direction of an external pulling force, but there are no materials that compress instead. The proposal of mechanical metamaterials that show such negative compressibility promises new artificial materials with designed functionalities.

See also: News and Views by Grima & Caruana-Gauci

A search model for topological insulators with high-throughput robustness descriptors   pp614 - 619
Kesong Yang, Wahyu Setyawan, Shidong Wang, Marco Buongiorno Nardelli and Stefano Curtarolo
doi:10.1038/nmat3332
Topological insulators exhibit intriguing electronic properties that originate from protected metallic states on their surface. Experimental studies so far are based on a limited number of materials. A high-throughput approach now shows how to search for topological insulators in a variety of unexplored classes of materials.

Giant magnetocaloric effect driven by structural transitions   pp620 - 626
Jian Liu, Tino Gottschall, Konstantin P. Skokov, James D. Moore and Oliver Gutfleisch
doi:10.1038/nmat3334
Magnetic cooling could be a radically different energy solution that could replace conventional vapour compression refrigeration in the future. It is now shown that a Heusler-type magnetocaloric alloy exhibits a remarkable cooling capability due to the effect of a sharp structural transformation at a specific temperature. The finding may be of relevance beyond Heusler alloys and represents an important step towards the implementation of cooling systems based on magnetocaloric materials.

Extraordinarily complex crystal structure with mesoscopic patterning in barium at high pressure   pp627 - 632
I. Loa, R. J.  Nelmes, L. F. Lundegaard and M. I. McMahon
doi:10.1038/nmat3342
Elemental barium at high pressure presents many complex crystal structures that have yet to be determined. The most complex of these crystal structures (phase Ba-IVc at 19 GPa) has now been solved and consists of a commensurate host–guest structure with 768 atoms in the basic unit, where the relative alignment of the guest-atom chains can be represented as a two-dimensional pattern with repeating interlocking motifs.

In silico screening of carbon-capture materials   pp633 - 641
Li-Chiang Lin, Adam H. Berger, Richard L. Martin, Jihan Kim, Joseph A. Swisher, Kuldeep Jariwala, Chris H. Rycroft, Abhoyjit S. Bhown, Michael W. Deem, Maciej Haranczyk and Berend Smit
doi:10.1038/nmat3336
Developing capture materials and processes that reduce the energy required to separate carbon dioxide from flue gas in power plants is an important area of research. A computational approach to rank adsorbents for their performance in carbon dioxide capture and storage is now proposed, which will enable hundreds of thousands of zeolitic structures to be screened.

Extracellular-matrix tethering regulates stem-cell fate   pp642 - 649
Britta Trappmann, Julien E. Gautrot, John T. Connelly, Daniel G. T. Strange, Yuan Li, Michelle L. Oyen, Martien A. Cohen Stuart, Heike Boehm, Bojun Li, Viola Vogel, Joachim P. Spatz, Fiona M. Watt and Wilhelm T. S. Huck
doi:10.1038/nmat3339
The spreading and differentiation of stem cells is influenced by the mechanical properties—in particular by the stiffness—of the extracellular matrix. Now, experiments on epidermal stem cells cultured on substrates with a covalently attached collagen coating show that stem cells sense the stiffness of the substrate through the anchoring density of collagen fibres.

See also: News and Views by Chaudhuri & Mooney

Top
Advertisement
Scientific Reports publishes 457 open access papers in its first year

Publishing technically sound research articles, Scientific Reports is Nature Publishing Group’s fastest growing journal. Given the speed and visibility offered, no wonder 93% of our authors said that they are “likely” or “very likely” to submit again.

Keep your research moving. Submit to Scientific Reports
 
nature events
Natureevents is a fully searchable, multi-disciplinary database designed to maximise exposure for events organisers. The contents of the Natureevents Directory are now live. The digital version is available here.
Find the latest scientific conferences, courses, meetings and symposia on natureevents.com. For event advertising opportunities across the Nature Publishing Group portfolio please contact natureevents@nature.com
More Nature Events

 

Nature Publishing Group | 75 Varick Street, 9th Floor | New York | NY 10013-1917 | USA

Nature Publishing Group's worldwide offices:
London - Paris - Munich - New Delhi - Tokyo - Melbourne
San Diego - San Francisco - Washington - New York - Boston

Macmillan Publishers Limited is a company incorporated in England and Wales under company number 785998 and whose registered office is located at Brunel Road, Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS.

© 2012 Nature Publishing Group, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited. All Rights Reserved.

nature publishing group