Nature Materials contents: June 2012 Volume 11 Number 6 pp 477-557

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Free to attend, details on-line   Advertisement Nature Nanotechnology is pleased to announce a special focus on nanotoxicology Includes free online access to selected articles for a limited time Sponsored by:   Editorial Top Horizon 2020 p477 doi:10.1038/nmat3353 The next European Union funding scheme, which is pending European Council and Parliament approval by summer 2013, will be dedicated to both research and innovation. Full Text | PDF Commentary Top Two centuries of memristors pp478 - 481 Themistoklis Prodromakis, Christofer Toumazou and Leon Chua doi:10.1038/nmat3338 Memristors are dynamic electronic devices whose nanoscale realization has led to considerable research interest. However, their experimental history goes back two centuries. Full Text | PDF When Brownian diffusion is not Gaussian pp481 - 485 Bo Wang, James Kuo, Sung Chul Bae and Steve Granick doi:10.1038/nmat3308 It is commonly presumed that the random displacements that particles undergo as a result of the thermal jiggling of the environment follow a normal, or Gaussian, distribution. Here we reason, and support with experimental examples, that non-Gaussian diffusion in soft materials is more prevalent than expected. Full Text | PDF Research Highlights Top Glitters like silver | Three times winner | De novo protein crystal | Radical segregation | Paving the way for electrons News and Views Top Colloidal self-assembly: Melting also on cooling pp487 - 488 Oleg Gang doi:10.1038/nmat3344 Colloidal particles interacting through DNA linkers can be designed to form solids that melt when either heated or cooled. This scenario widens the temperature window in which colloidal superlattices form by reducing kinetic bottlenecks. Full Text | PDF See also: Letter by Angioletti-Uberti et al. Material witness: Updating the eureka p488 Philip Ball doi:10.1038/nmat3346 Full Text | PDF X-ray scattering: In tune with organic semiconductors pp489 - 490 Stefan C. B. Mannsfeld doi:10.1038/nmat3340 Progress in organic electronics depends on our understanding of the structure–property relationships of organic materials. Resonant scattering of polarized soft X-rays by aromatic carbon bonds has now been used to probe molecular orientation in thin organic semiconductor films down to length scales of 20 nm. Full Text | PDF See also: Article by Collins et al. Morphogenesis: Laying down the tracks pp490 - 492 Luke Cassereau, Christopher C. DuFort and Valerie M. Weaver doi:10.1038/nmat3345 To drive the formation of tubular structures, cells remodel their extracellular microenvironment to induce coordinated migration. It is now found that a mechanical feedback loop, involving the interaction of cell traction forces with collagen fibres, facilitates the formation of long epithelial tubules. Full Text | PDF Materials JOBS of the week Surface and mechanic characteristics of ceramic materials and multifunctional hybrids CNR - Istituto di Scienza e Tecnologia dei Materiali Ceramici Molecular and polymeric organic materials for hybrid solar cells (DSSCs), organic solar cells (BHJ) and solar concentrators Università degli Studi di Milano Research assistant in materials science and engineering Oklahoma State University Experimental study and characterization of cold plasma sources for deposition and functionalization processes of nanostructered materials Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca Postdoc in Multiscale Mechanics of Hierarchical Carbon-based Materials Northwestern University More Science jobs from 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 Letters Top Possible valence-bond condensation in the frustrated cluster magnet LiZn2Mo3O8  pp493 - 496 J. P. Sheckelton, J. R. Neilson, D. G. Soltan and T. M. McQueen doi:10.1038/nmat3329 Geometrically frustrated magnets are systems where it is impossible for all magnetic interactions to occur simultaneously. The discovery of frustrated magnetism in a system where the magnetic moments are situated across clusters of transition-metal elements instead of individual ions promises a new approach for controlling such magnetic states. First paragraph | Full Text | PDF Ultrafast transient generation of spin-density-wave order in the normal state of BaFe2As2 driven by coherent lattice vibrations pp497 - 501 K. W. Kim, A. Pashkin, H. Schäfer, M. Beyer, M. Porer, T. Wolf, C. Bernhard, J. Demsar, R. Huber and A. Leitenstorfer doi:10.1038/nmat3294 Ultrafast and intense optical pulses have been used to study spin-density-waves in pnictide compounds, which are known to exhibit unconventional superconductivity. The results show that the magnetic order follows lattice motion, which suggests that a spin–phonon coupling may play an important role in the formation of spin-density-waves and superconductivity. First paragraph | Full Text | PDF Effects of chemical bonding on heat transport across interfaces pp502 - 506 Mark D. Losego, Martha E. Grady, Nancy R. Sottos, David G. Cahill and Paul V. Braun doi:10.1038/nmat3303 Understanding how heat is transferred across interfaces is important for the efficiency of micro- and nanoscale electronic devices. Here, it is shown that there is a direct link between the bonding character of an interface and the thermal transport across it. First paragraph | Full Text | PDF An oxyhydride of BaTiO3 exhibiting hydride exchange and electronic conductivity pp507 - 511 Yoji Kobayashi, Olivier J. Hernandez, Tatsunori Sakaguchi, Takeshi Yajima, Thierry Roisnel, Yoshihiro Tsujimoto, Masaki Morita, Yasuto Noda, Yuuki Mogami, Atsushi Kitada, Masatoshi Ohkura, Saburo Hosokawa, Zhaofei Li, Katsuro Hayashi, Yoshihiro Kusano, Jung eun Kim, Naruki Tsuji, Akihiko Fujiwara, Yoshitaka Matsushita, Kazuyoshi Yoshimura, Kiyonori Takegoshi, Masashi Inoue, Mikio Takano and Hiroshi Kageyama doi:10.1038/nmat3302 The substitution of oxygen by hydride anions in oxide materials to form oxyhydrides has been difficult to achieve because it requires highly reducing conditions without transferring an electron from the hydride. An oxyhydride of BaTiO3 that is electronically conducting, stable in air and water at ambient conditions, and exchangeable with hydrogen gas at 400 °C, has now been prepared. First paragraph | Full Text | PDF P2-type Nax[Fe1/2Mn1/2]O2 made from earth-abundant elements for rechargeable Na batteries pp512 - 517 Naoaki Yabuuchi, Masataka Kajiyama, Junichi Iwatate, Heisuke Nishikawa, Shuji Hitomi, Ryoichi Okuyama, Ryo Usui, Yasuhiro Yamada and Shinichi Komaba doi:10.1038/nmat3309 Although sodium is an abundant element that can be electrochemically and reversibly extracted from and inserted into layered materials, the resulting reversible capacity for storing energy remains low. A manganese–iron–sodium-based electrode is now shown to exhibit a reversible capacity of 190 mAh g−1 due to electrochemically active Fe3+/Fe4+ redox reactions. First paragraph | Full Text | PDF Re-entrant melting as a design principle for DNA-coated colloids pp518 - 522 Stefano Angioletti-Uberti, Bortolo M. Mognetti and Daan Frenkel doi:10.1038/nmat3314 The self-assembly of colloidal particles functionalized with complementary DNA strands into crystalline structures has been hampered by kinetic trapping into disordered aggregates, which effectively limits the temperature window where crystallization occurs. A strategy to design DNA-functionalized colloids with a broadened crystallization window is now proposed, and is supported by theory and simulations. First paragraph | Full Text | PDF See also: News and Views by Gang Articles Top Exchange biasing of magnetoelectric composites pp523 - 529 Enno Lage, Christine Kirchhof, Viktor Hrkac, Lorenz Kienle, Robert Jahns, Reinhard Knöchel, Eckhard Quandt and Dirk Meyners doi:10.1038/nmat3306 Magnetoelectric composite materials are of interest for sensitive magnetic-field sensors. The realization of a magnetoelectric composite that does not require an applied external magnetic field, but instead relies on internal bias via exchange coupling, promises sensitive sensors even for small magnetic fields. Abstract | Full Text | PDF Atomically controlled electrochemical nucleation at superionic solid electrolyte surfaces pp530 - 535 Ilia Valov, Ina Sapezanskaia, Alpana Nayak, Tohru Tsuruoka, Thomas Bredow, Tsuyoshi Hasegawa, Georgi Staikov, Masakazu Aono and Rainer Waser doi:10.1038/nmat3307 Studying electrochemical equilibria at interfaces on the atomic scale is crucial for understanding physicochemical processes, but such investigations are currently limited by phase instabilities and instrumentation. A small amount of electron donors in a solid electrolyte is now shown to enable scanning tunnelling microscope measurements and atomically resolved imaging. Abstract | Full Text | PDF Polarized X-ray scattering reveals non-crystalline orientational ordering in organic films pp536 - 543 B. A. Collins, J. E. Cochran, H. Yan, E. Gann, C. Hub, R. Fink, C. Wang, T. Schuettfort, C. R. McNeill, M. L. Chabinyc and H. Ade doi:10.1038/nmat3310 Molecular orientation, which critically influences the properties of organic materials, could until now only be characterized if the sample exhibited sufficient crystallinity. Resonant scattering of polarized soft X-rays by molecular orbitals has now been used to probe non-crystalline ordering and molecular orientation in thin films with a resolution down to 10 nm. Abstract | Full Text | PDF See also: News and Views by Mannsfeld Room-temperature metastability of multilayer graphene oxide films pp544 - 549 Suenne Kim, Si Zhou, Yike Hu, Muge Acik, Yves J. Chabal, Claire Berger, Walt de Heer, Angelo Bongiorno and Elisa Riedo doi:10.1038/nmat3316 Graphene oxide could potentially be used for numerous applications, particularly in electronics. Understanding its structural stability in an ambient atmosphere is essential for the realization of devices. A new study shows that multilayer graphene oxide is in fact metastable at room temperature. Abstract | Full Text | PDF Trends in activity for the water electrolyser reactions on 3d M(Ni,Co,Fe,Mn) hydr(oxy)oxide catalysts pp550 - 557 Ram Subbaraman, Dusan Tripkovic, Kee-Chul Chang, Dusan Strmcnik, Arvydas P. Paulikas, Pussana Hirunsit, Maria Chan, Jeff Greeley, Vojislav Stamenkovic and Nenad M. Markovic doi:10.1038/nmat3313 Efficient electrochemical transformation of water to molecular hydrogen and of hydroxyl ions to oxygen in alkaline environments is important for reducing energy losses in water–alkali electrolysers. Insight into the activities of hydr(oxy)oxides on platinum catalyst surfaces for hydrogen and oxygen evolution reactions should prove significant for designing practical alkaline electrocatalysts. Abstract | Full Text | PDF Top 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! 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