Design, synthesis and processing articles from across Nature Portfolio

Activation of mechanophores in polymers is desirable but generally a slow process. Here, the authors report the use of polymeric microbubbles activated by high-frequency ultrasound to exert compressive force and give mechanochemical transformations.

For efficient development of film materials, the data and model driven process design is required. Tomoya Horide and colleagues proposed the integrated modelling of process and properties across the experimental setups such as fabrication equipment.

A universal, high-resolution printing technology for metal oxide thin-film transistors is still lacking. A plasmonic printing technology is reported to fabricate high-performance, solution-processed all-metal oxide thin-film electronics under room temperature and ambient conditions.

A skin conductance sensor with a water-permeable, micro-lace electrode can be used to continuously monitor daily activities.

An article in Nature Communications reports an aqueous processing solution, based on the kosmotropic effect, that enables the sustainable and cost-effective manufacturing of lithium-ion battery cathodes.

Double-sided van der Waals epitaxy across an ultrathin membrane provides a new method for growing a vertical junction with an atomically sharp interface, enabling the direct detection of selection rules for resonant tunnelling between topological surface states.

An article in Communications Materials introduces a modular assembly approach to scale up pyrolytic carbon lattice structures while retaining their strength and ductility.

An article in Nature Materials reports an adaptation of the Czochralski method that enables the growth of centimetre-scale single-crystal MoS₂ flakes with ultra-low defect density.

Electrochemical acetaldehyde production from CO₂ could provide a sustainable alternative to petrochemical-based methods but catalyst development is typically slow. Now, a high-throughput method accelerates the catalyst selection and production process from years to a few months, resulting in the identification of a copper cluster catalyst with 92% selectivity for acetaldehyde from CO₂.