Nature Materials contents: February 2012 Volume 11 Number 2 pp91-172

TABLE OF CONTENTS February 2012 Volume 11, Issue 2 Editorial Commentary Research Highlights News and Views Review Letters Articles Erratum Advertisement How to maximise nanopatterning performance of your FIB-SEM? Visit Raith and learn how ELPHY MultiBeam's FLEXposureTM patterning modes improve FIB-SEM lithography. Subscribe   Facebook   RSS   Recommend to library   Twitter   CALL FOR NOMINATIONS Nominations are invited for the DSM Performance Materials Award 2012. Cash prize: EUR 50,000. Theme for 2012: "Chemistry of Materials: from Molecule to Material with Multiscale Control". The award will be granted for major contributions to research in this field. Nomination form can be downloaded from the award website. Closing date: February 15, 2012.   Advertisement Miami 2012 Winter Symposium: Nanotechnology in Biomedicine February 26-29, 2012 • Miami, FL, USA The 45th Miami Winter Symposium will bring together leaders in the field to discuss breakthroughs in new nanomaterials and the challenges in translating these materials into products for the clinic and laboratory. For more information and to register, visit: www.nature.com/natureconferences/miami/mws2012   Editorial Top The interface is still the device p91 doi:10.1038/nmat3244 Oxide materials show an amazing variety of electronic and ionic phenomena. However, despite considerable advances in understanding and utilizing these effects, experimental and theoretical challenges still need to be addressed before the promised applications can be realized. Full Text | PDF Commentary Top Whither the oxide interface pp92 - 94 J. Chakhalian, A. J. Millis and J. Rondinelli doi:10.1038/nmat3225 Interfaces formed by transition-metal oxide materials offer a tremendous opportunity for fundamental as well as applied research. Yet, as exciting as these opportunities are, several challenges remain. Full Text | PDF Research Highlights Top Tailoring interfacial curvature | A synthetic nanotube | Atomic turnover | A soft landing for magnets | Designer nanopores News and Views Top Photonics: Stretching silicon's potential pp96 - 97 Clemens Schriever and Ralf B. Wehrspohn doi:10.1038/nmat3226 The application of inhomogeneous strain to silicon photonic structures may lead to new optically active devices based on second-order nonlinear processes. Full Text | PDF See also: Article by Cazzanelli et al. Colloidal friction: Kinks in motion pp97 - 98 Andrea Vanossi and Erio Tosatti doi:10.1038/nmat3229 The ability of laser interference potentials to trap and control colloidal particles opens up a new potential area of 'toy systems' displaying real physics. A beautiful example is the study of friction between colloidal crystals and a variety of artificially created surface potentials. Full Text | PDF See also: Letter by Bohlein et al. Wetting dynamics: Adsorbed colloids relax slowly pp99 - 100 Ignacio Pagonabarraga doi:10.1038/nmat3235 For colloidal particles adsorbed at liquid/liquid interfaces, it is now found that the height of a particle above the interface equilibrates much more slowly than expected. Such a slow relaxation has major implications for the understanding of effective interactions between colloids at fluid interfaces. Full Text | PDF See also: Letter by Kaz et al. Solar-fuel generation: Towards practical implementation pp100 - 101 Soren Dahl & Ib Chorkendorff doi:10.1038/nmat3233 Limiting reliance on non-renewable fossil fuels inevitably depends on a more efficient utilization of solar energy. Materials scientists discuss the most viable approaches to produce high-energy-density fuels from sunlight that can be implemented in existing infrastructures. Full Text | PDF Material witness: Breaking the mould p102 Philip Ball doi:10.1038/nmat3232 Full Text | PDF Materials JOBS of the week Postdoctoral Fellowship CSIRO Materials Science and Engineering Faculty Position in Materials Science and Engineering EPFL Professor / Associate Professor in Aluminium Solidification Metallurgy Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) Supervisor Tissue Research & Pathology Paramount Recruitment Chemist / Chemical Engineer – Switzerland Paramount Recruitment More Science jobs from Materials EVENT "META’12, the 3rd International Conference on Metamaterials, Photonic Crystals and Plasmonics 19.-22.04.12 Paris, France More science events from Review Top Emergent phenomena at oxide interfaces pp103 - 113 H. Y. Hwang, Y. Iwasa, M. Kawasaki, B. Keimer, N. Nagaosa and Y. Tokura doi:10.1038/nmat3223 From magnetism, ferroelectricity and superconductivity to electrical and thermal properties, oxides show a broad range of phenomena of fundamental as well as practical relevance. Reviewed here are the emergent phenomena arising at the interface between oxide materials, which have attracted considerable interest based on advances in thin-film deposition techniques. Abstract | Full Text | PDF Letters Top Atomic-scale transport in epitaxial graphene pp114 - 119 Shuai-Hua Ji, J. B. Hannon, R. M. Tromp, V. Perebeinos, J. Tersoff and F. M. Ross doi:10.1038/nmat3170 A local atom probe has been used to study the transport properties of graphene, revealing the different effects of surface steps and changes in layer thickness on substrates. Understanding the details of the defect-induced degradation of transport properties is essential for improving the efficiency of devices. First paragraph | Full Text | PDF Synthesis of monolithic graphene–graphite integrated electronics pp120 - 125 Jang-Ung Park, SungWoo Nam, Mi-Sun Lee and Charles M. Lieber doi:10.1038/nmat3169 One of the interesting features of graphene is that its properties change with the number of layers. A procedure to create monolithic devices with elements made out of different numbers of graphene layers is now shown, and a practical demonstration of this method is given by realizing transistor arrays with chemical-sensing functionalities. First paragraph | Full Text | PDF Observation of kinks and antikinks in colloidal monolayers driven across ordered surfaces pp126 - 130 Thomas Bohlein, Jules Mikhael and Clemens Bechinger doi:10.1038/nmat3204 The frictional properties of a two-dimensional colloidal crystal reveal that excitations known as kinks and antikinks form when the crystal is dragged along a solid surface. This phenomenon, which was predicted previously but never observed, demonstrates the potential of using colloidal crystals to study frictional properties that are otherwise difficult to characterize. First paragraph | Full Text | PDF See also: News and Views by Vanossi & Tosatti Self-assembly of uniform polyhedral silver nanocrystals into densest packings and exotic superlattices pp131 - 137 Joel Henzie, Michael Grünwald, Asaph Widmer-Cooper, Phillip L. Geissler and Peidong Yang doi:10.1038/nmat3178 Highly monodisperse silver polyhedral nanocrystals passivated with polymers are shown to behave as quasi-hard particles that self-assemble by sedimentation into millimetre-sized supercrystals, which correspond to the particles' three-dimensional densest packings. Monte Carlo simulations confirm the observed self-assembled structures, including an exotic structure for octahedra that is stabilized by depletion forces induced by an excess of polymer in solution. First paragraph | Full Text | PDF Physical ageing of the contact line on colloidal particles at liquid interfaces pp138 - 142 David M. Kaz, Ryan McGorty, Madhav Mani, Michael P. Brenner and Vinothan N. Manoharan doi:10.1038/nmat3190 Colloidal particles adsorbed at liquid interfaces are commonly assumed to be at equilibrium, but holographic microscopy experiments now reveal that microspheres bound to a water/oil interface may take months to equilibrate. The observed ageing dynamics agree with a model of thermally activated hopping of the particle/interface contact line over nanoscale surface defects, and have implications for understanding the interactions between adsorbed colloidal particles. First paragraph | Full Text | PDF See also: News and Views by Pagonabarraga Articles Top Electron spin coherence exceeding seconds in high-purity silicon  pp143 - 147 Alexei M. Tyryshkin, Shinichi Tojo, John J. L. Morton, Helge Riemann, Nikolai V. Abrosimov, Peter Becker, Hans-Joachim Pohl, Thomas Schenkel, Michael L. W. Thewalt, Kohei M. Itoh and S. A. Lyon doi:10.1038/nmat3182 The coherence lifetime of a material system to be used in quantum information protocols has to be long enough for several quantum operations to occur before the system loses its quantum coherence. The spins of impurities in silicon have been shown to have coherence lifetimes up to tens of milliseconds, but now all records are beaten with those in high-purity silicon reaching a few seconds. Abstract | Full Text | PDF Second-harmonic generation in silicon waveguides strained by silicon nitride  pp148 - 154 M. Cazzanelli, F. Bianco, E. Borga, G. Pucker, M. Ghulinyan, E. Degoli, E. Luppi, V. Véniard, S. Ossicini, D. Modotto, S. Wabnitz, R. Pierobon and L. Pavesi doi:10.1038/nmat3200 Photonic devices on silicon offer the benefit of combining advanced electronic functionality with the high bandwidth of silicon photonics. Now, efficient second-order nonlinear activity in silicon waveguides strained by a silicon nitride top layer considerably advances the potential of all-optical data management on a silicon platform. Abstract | Full Text | PDF See also: News and Views by Schriever & Wehrspohn High electrochemical activity of the oxide phase in model ceria–Pt and ceria–Ni composite anodes pp155 - 161 William C. Chueh, Yong Hao, WooChul Jung and Sossina M. Haile doi:10.1038/nmat3184 A key step in fuel-cell energy-conversion processes is electro-oxidation of the fuel at the anode, but ways to improve electrocatalytic activity remain unclear. Using ceria–metal structures, H2-oxidation reactions are shown to be dominated by electrocatalysis at the oxide/gas interface with minimal contributions from the oxide/metal/gas triple-phase boundaries. Abstract | Full Text | PDF Morphological instability leading to formation of porous anodic oxide films pp162 - 166 Kurt R. Hebert, Sergiu P. Albu, Indhumati Paramasivam and Patrik Schmuki doi:10.1038/nmat3185 Electrochemical oxidation of metals produces anodic oxides with highly regular arrangements of pores; however, the mechanisms of pore initiation and self-ordering are not well understood. Now, a quantitative analysis method is proposed that examines the roles of oxide dissolution and ionic conduction in the morphological stability of anodic oxide films. Abstract | Full Text | PDF H-atom relay reactions in real space pp167 - 172 T. Kumagai, A. Shiotari, H. Okuyama, S. Hatta, T. Aruga, I. Hamada, T. Frederiksen and H. Ueba doi:10.1038/nmat3176 The relay mechanism in which hydrogen atom transfer occurs along hydrogen bonds plays a crucial role in many functional compounds. Using a scanning tunnelling microscope, the transfer of hydrogen atoms along hydrogen-bonded chains assembled on a Cu(110) surface is shown to be controllable and reversible. Abstract | Full Text | PDF Erratum Top Li–O2 and Li–S batteries with high energy storage p172 Peter G. Bruce, Stefan A. Freunberger, Laurence J. Hardwick and Jean-Marie Tarascon doi:10.1038/nmat3237 Full Text | PDF See also: Review by Bruce et al. Top Advertisement Frontiers in Electronic Materials: Correlation Effects and Memristive Phenomena June 17-20, 2012 • Aachen, Germany This conference will bring together leaders in the field to discuss breakthroughs and challenges in fundamental research as well as prospects for future applications. To register and for more information, visit: www.nature.com/natureconferences/fem2012   Natureevents is a fully searchable, multi-disciplinary database designed to maximise exposure for events organisers. The contents of the Natureevents Directory are now live. 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