Volume 24 Issue 2, February 2025

High-purity samples are essential for quantum matter research. This Comment discusses interesting directions and relevant considerations in growth techniques, particularly molecular beam epitaxy, to improve the quality and expand the variety of thin-film quantum materials.

The two-dimensional Czochralski growth method enables the rapid production of large-area single-crystal MoS₂, effectively alleviating the issues related to defect density and scalability for devices based on two-dimensional materials.

2D monocrystalline Gd₂O₅ is synthesized, which exhibits a wide bandgap with a high dielectric constant (κ), attributed to its strong ionic polarization capability. These properties enable MoS₂-based transistors to achieve an exceptionally low subthreshold swing and a high on/off current ratio, highlighting the potential of Gd₂O₅ for advanced transistor applications.

By constructing vertical tunnel junctions based on few-layer indium selenide, a chirality-sensitive detection method is developed, enabling the investigation of the interaction between chiral light and spin in the two-dimensional limit.

Metastable spin order in a canted antiferromagnet is manipulated using strong picosecond magnetic fields, without parasitic heating.

Mixed conductors streamline ion and electron pathways, boosting the capacity of sulfur electrodes in all-solid-state Li–S batteries.

Tuning electron–spin interactions and applying magnetic fields can control the photochemical quantum yields of triplet states of molecule–quantum dot hybrids.

Synthetic organoids made by combining white blood cells or tonsil cells with a hydrogel that mimics the immune tissue microenvironment provide a platform for mechanistic analysis of B cell maturation, humoral immunity and modelling of patient-specific responses.

Orally administered zinc gluconate spontaneously assembles into protein-coated zinc oxide nanoparticles in human blood. These nanoparticles efficiently target renal tumours, where they enhance antitumour immune responses, and can serve as a multifunctional drug delivery system.

Metal–organic frameworks are a class of materials that have attracted researchers for over 25 years and have been proposed for many applications. This Perspective discusses critical topics in applied research for commercialization, and highlights challenges associated with product development.

A 2D Czochralski method is introduced for rapidly growing centimetre-scale single-crystal MoS₂ domains with low defect density and impressive electrical performance. This method shows potential for fabricating high-quality and scalable 2D semiconductor materials and devices.

Two-dimensional monocrystalline gadolinium pentoxide with high dielectric constant and wide bandgap was prepared through van der Waals epitaxy, allowing the realization of sub-1 nm equivalent oxide thickness and low-power nanoelectronics.

Electrochemically mutable soft metasurfaces based on soft conducting polymers exploit the deformability of soft materials through swelling to dynamically tune the shape and associated resonant response of the metasurface devices.

Light chirality and electron spin interactions and the dependence of tunnelling photocurrent on the magnetic field are studied in indium selenide, exploiting its non-symmetric response to circularly polarized light to electrically detect chirality.

The authors realize non-thermal spin switching in a canted antiferromagnet through dynamically modifying the magnetic potential using a strong multicycle terahertz magnetic near field.

The authors report on their observation of magnetic polymorphs in CrSBr using phase-sensitive second harmonic generation.

Single-phase Na_xV₂(PO₄)₃ compositions obtained by annealing mixtures of Na₃V₂(PO₄)₃ and NaV₂(PO₄)₃ enable the complete electrochemical extraction of Na⁺ through the activation of the V⁴⁺/V⁵⁺ couple. This results in a substantial increase in the energy density of such Na super ionic conductor electrodes when used in sodium batteries.

Low-cost conversion cathodes are promising for future all-solid-state battery technology, but their poor electronic and ionic conductivity restrict reactions to three-phase boundaries. By using mixed ionic–electronic conductors, conversion reactions can be initiated at two-phase boundaries, resulting in enhanced discharge capacity and lifespan.

Substantial open-circuit voltage loss and inherent non-radiative recombination hinder efficiency improvements in wide-bandgap perovskite solar cells. Here the authors augment two-dimensional perovskite phases on the surface to promote (100) facet growth on three-dimensional perovskite facets, improving the open-circuit voltage and efficiency of the resulting wide-bandgap perovskite solar cells.

Photochemical quantum process in quantum dot–molecule hybrids is normally weak and difficult to be coherently controlled. Radical-pair spin quantum beats can enable the efficient and coherent control of charge recombination at room temperature.

An elementary particle rearrangement mode known as the T1 process links liquid dynamics and local structural ordering to understand the physical mechanisms of super-Arrhenius-like behaviour in glass-forming liquids.

The shape of biological matter is central to their function and interaction with other cellular components. A combination of DNA origami nanorafts with biogenic pores reversibly controls the shape and permeability of lipid vesicles at the microscale.

Zinc gluconate in oral supplements associates with plasma proteins to form renal-tumour-accumulating ZnO nanoparticles, which have antitumoural immune activity and can also be used for the delivery of chemotherapeutic agents.

Synthetic hydrogels and immune organs-on-chip mimicking human immune tissue developed from blood samples allow effective modelling of immune responses and B cell disorders, with implications for the development of improved immunotherapies and vaccines.

Minutes-scale whole-cell movements fuelled by fast cytoskeletal dynamics and nuclear activity regulate mesenchymal stem cells differentiation into chondrocytes in hydrogels, being another process modulating the stem cell fate.