New papers on Materials
127 new papers on materials in the last 7 days, within Chemistry & materials. These are the 50 Pipette rates most worth reading, with the main result in the authors' own words.
The best of the week
Ferroelectric switching of odd-parity magnon spin splitting
Here we report room-temperature transport evidence for ferroelectric switching odd-parity magnon spin splitting in multiferroic BiFeO3.
PreprintClaims a big stepReal-world useMultimodal Visual Sensing of Temperature and Pressure: From Spectroscopic Readout to Multiple Linear Regression-Enhanced RGB Analysis
This work presents the first application of MLR-assisted RGB analysis for quantitative luminescence pressure sensing.
PreprintClaims a big stepChains of Spin-Crossover Complexes Synthesized on the Ag(111) Surface
We report the first on-surface thermally activated Ullmann coupling of spin-crossover complexes on a Ag(111) surface.
Peer-reviewed journalClaims a big stepMultidirectional Colossal Polarization in a Centrosymmetric Crystal via Long-Range Ion Displacement
Herein, we demonstrate that colossal polarization occurs by long-range ion displacement even in the nonpolar proton conductor Na2MnN(CN)4·3.25H2O (1·H2O).
Peer-reviewed journalClaims a big stepSub-10-nm stacking bands enable ultrastrong additively manufactured titanium
Integrating laser powder bed fusion with a high-throughput screening and machine learning method identifies a processing–composition regime for fabricating Ti alloys with sub-10-nm stacking bands, which present high specific strength and potential for scalable manufacturing.
Peer-reviewed journalReal-world useRapid-responsive and water-stable organic electrochemical transistors enabled by supramolecular artificial ion channels
OECTs operating with the ion-channel layer exhibit simultaneously enhanced temporal response and aqueous stability.
Peer-reviewed journalBold claims, read criticallyReal-world useAtomic-scale quantification of hydrogen in metal hydrides by electron ptychography
Here, we demonstrate atomic-resolution imaging and quantitative analysis of hydrogen in metal hydrides using energy-filtered multislice electron ptychography (MEP).
Peer-reviewed journalClaims a big stepA Hybrid Quantum Neural Network to Analyse Big Experimental Powder X-ray Diffraction Data
We introduce a hybrid quantum neural network framework designed to extract quantitative parameters, such as phase weight fractions and scale factors, directly from one-dimensional powder diffraction patterns without iterative refinement.
PreprintReal-world useThermally Robust and Strongly Pressure-Responsive NIR Luminescent Manometer Based on Cr3+-Ni2+ Emission
In this work, we introduce NaLu2Ga3Ge2O12:Cr3+, Ni2+ as a highly sensitive NIR luminescent manometer in which pressure not only induces pronounced spectral shifts of the Cr3+ and Ni2+ emission bands but also strongly modulates their relative luminescence intensities.
PreprintClaims a big stepReal-world useDeformation-induced amorphous complexion transitions elevate strength and ductility
We thus uncover a novel amorphous complexion transformation-induced plasticity mechanism that concurrently increases the yield strength, fracture strain, and tensile toughness about a factor of two relative to a designed reference material.
PreprintClaims a big stepStrain-Induced Relaxor Multiferroicity at Room Temperature in Hexaferrite BaFe12O19 Thin Films
Together, these results establish strain-engineered BaFe12O19 as a room-temperature relaxor multiferroic, in which robust ferrimagnetism coexists with nanoscale polar order.
PreprintClaims a big stepSliding-before-breaking governs deformation in chitinous extracellular matrices reinforced by strong, fatigue-resistant chitin
These findings establish a sliding-before-breaking principle, in which backbone stability preserves structural integrity while regulated interfacial sliding governs energy dissipation and growth.
Peer-reviewed journalBold claims, read criticallyMechanically resilient, hybrid silicone aerogel for thermal insulation, daytime radiative cooling and sustained flame protection
Here the authors construct resilient hybrid silicone aerogels with low thermal conductivity and sustained flame protection enabled by in-situ nano-hollowing.
Peer-reviewed journalBold claims, read criticallyReal-world useSwitchable Altermagnetism in a Layered van der Waals Metal–Organic Framework Driven by Spin-Crossover
Here, we open an unprecedented, versatile, and programmable route based on spin-crossover to switch altermagnetism on demand in molecular materials.
Peer-reviewed journalBold claims, read criticallyClaims a big stepCombining physical models with dynamically acquired experimental information for the optimization of multicomponent NASICON fast ionic conductors in a self-driving laboratory
Here, we introduce a strategy that simultaneously and dynamically assesses composition-dependent synthetic accessibility and target properties via aggregated cost functions that guide autonomous experimentation in a truly self-driving and self-learning mode.
PreprintReal-world useSuperfluorescence as a cooperative amplifier of hidden anisotropy in a ferroelectric hybrid perovskite
Remarkably, macroscopic polarization emerges without external bias despite randomly oriented microscopic domains, suggesting a cooperative gain mechanism that amplifies weak local anisotropies by several orders of magnitude into coherent, linearly polarized light bursts.
PreprintBold claims, read criticallyCompressive Splitting in Brittle Solids: The Inverse of Wrinkling in Sheets
We show that clamped loading platens suppress lateral Poisson expansion, generating boundary-induced tensile stresses at the specimen interior -- the compressive analog of wrinkling in stretched sheets.
Preprint with a published versionSapphire-Side hBN Formation by Ni--Cr-Mediated Growth in a Stacked Ni--Cr/Boron/Sapphire Configuration: Effect of Boron Supply
These results identify boron supply as a key parameter governing the transition from alloy-side hBN formation to concurrent sapphire-side hBN growth.
PreprintClaims a big stepA low-symmetry ground state of dense two-dimensional hydrogen
Using first-principles structural searches and relaxations in supercells containing up to 512 atoms, we identify ground-state structures of dense two-dimensional hydrogen showing no evidence of long-range crystalline order over the simulated length scales.
PreprintMolecular Beam Epitaxy of AgTaO3
We report the first synthesis of single-crystal AgTaO3 thin films using molecular-beam epitaxy (MBE).
PreprintClaims a big stepDeterministic control of antiferromagnetic domain walls by circular phonons
Here, we demonstrate an approach to deterministically control domain walls in the van der Waals antiferromagnet Ni-doped via dynamic engineering of the crystal lattice.
PreprintStrong acoustic meta-aerogels enabled by nanoconfined directional freezing and in-situ polymerization
Here we report a nanoconfined freezing-assisted in situ polymerization strategy that enables the construction of acoustic meta-aerogels with hierarchical nano–micro–macro architectures.
Peer-reviewed journalBold claims, read criticallyReal-world useChiral Lattice Distortion Enables Bright Near-Infrared Circularly Polarized Luminescence in Lead-Free Metal Halides
Here, we report a lattice-distortion strategy to integrate excitonic and chiroptical functionalities in lead-free zero-dimensional hybrid metal halides.
Peer-reviewed journalReal-world useSoLiD26: A First Principles Solid-Liquid Interface Dataset for Machine-learned Interatomic Potentials
We present SoLiD26, a curated solid-liquid interface dataset, containing 15.4 million first-principles atomic structures with up to 576 atoms and 15 chemical elements for training and evaluating MLIPs.
PreprintMillisecond Lifetime Free Carriers from Symmetry-Breaking Charge Separation in Morphology-Engineered Tetrachloroperylenediimide Crystals
The initial CT exciton then separates to give mobile charge carriers that live for over 1 ms, as determined by time-resolved microwave conductivity.
Peer-reviewed journalAgent-E2MD: Autonomous Translation of Interatomic Potential Equations into Physically Validated Pair Styles for Molecular Dynamics in LAMMPS
We introduce Agent-E2MD, a knowledge-guided agentic workflow that translates user-specified interatomic models into executable LAMMPS pair styles.
PreprintTopology-Stratified Materials Discovery with A Flow-Based Generative Model
Compared with state-of-the-art generative models, UFO-MGen achieves the highest crystal generation success rate under a rigorous multi-stability evaluation framework, the highest SUN (stable, unique, novel) rate, and a remarkable extrapolation capability that has not been reported by previous models.
PreprintBold claims, read criticallyReal-world useFrom Processing to Functionality: Engineering Accessible Material States in Cu-Embedded SiO Memristive Devices
By combining large-scale statistical analysis of more than 50,000 experimentally characterized devices with physics-based plasma and atomistic simulations, we show that device behavior does not emerge from deterministic process-to-performance mappings, but from a probabilistic cascade spanning defect formation, defect-state evolution, and functional-regime emergence.
PreprintElectronic-Entropy-Driven Phase Transitions in Compressed Iron Oxides
Here we show that electronic entropy can drive both polymorphic and stoichiometric phase transformations in compressed iron oxides.
Preprint with a published versionGenerative crystallographic phasing through invariant relationships
We introduce PhiGen, a generative reformulation of traditional direct methods that learns origin-independent phase relationships for binary and continuous phasing.
PreprintIntrinsic switching leads to oxygen diffusion and breakdown in hafnia ferroelectrics
Our results thus show that intrinsic switching leads to breakdown in hafnia ferroelectrics.
PreprintScandium diboride: a semi-metallic, lattice, thermally matched substrate for vertical AlGaN power electronics
Lattice expansion measurements reveal matching to with a coefficient of thermal expansion ~5ppm/K at typical AlGaN growth temperatures, enabling thick AlGaN layers for ultra-wide bandgap (UWBG) power electronics >1kV.
PreprintBold claims, read criticallyClaims a big stepReal-world useFrustrated junctions in interfacial networks
We show that in three dimensions the classical Herring condition for triple lines is necessary but insufficient: four triple lines meeting at a quadruple node may each satisfy Herring equilibrium, while the four conditions remain mutually incompatible.
PreprintNanoparticle-Mediated Synthesis of Single-Crystal Covalent Organic Frameworks of Uniform Size and Shape
Here, we show that simply adding silica nanoparticles (SiNPs) to a conventional solvothermal synthesis directs imine-based COFs (e.g., COF-300) to grow into monodispersed, polyhedral single-crystal microparticles.
Peer-reviewed journalInvestigation of Hopping Conduction and Its Impact on the Subthreshold and Transition Region Transport in Oxide Semiconductor Transistors by Magneto-Transport Measurements
This study reveals that structural disorder critically influences the device operation in the subthreshold and transition regions of oxide semiconductor transistors.
PreprintReal-world useVacancy aggregation enhances NV- spin coherence in diamond: a cluster-correlation-expansion study of multi-vacancy spin baths in semiconductors
Vacancy aggregation extends NV- spin coherence rather than shortening it.
PreprintRealization of quantum spin Hall insulator superlattice with emergent multigap-like helical edge states
Here, we report realization of superlattice-modulated QSHI HfTe5 hosting emergent multigap-like helical edge states.
PreprintCrystal symmetry predicts unconventional magnetism
Here we show that crystal symmetry can constrain unconventional magnetic character before the magnetic ground state is known.
PreprintAtom-Resolved Machine Learning of Dielectric and Piezoelectric Response
We here propose a machine-learning framework that learns the ionic response as an atom-indexed field: DART (Direct Atom-Resolved response-Tensor learning) learns these fields directly and achieves high accuracy from small training sets, whereas LARS (Linear-scaling Atom-Resolved Response Solver) reconstructs them from learned microscopic ingredients through sparse linear solves and requires no DFPT labels for the ionic dielectric or piezoelectric tensors.
PreprintMechanism of charge transfer and electrostatic field fluctuations in complex metallic alloys
Our analytical formalism demonstrates that local charge transfer and electrostatic potentials exhibit Gaussian-like statistics and universal linear charge-potential (qV) correlations emerging directly from the underlying disorder landscape.
PreprintEmergence of Chiral Dynamical Multiferroicity in a Ferroelectric Lattice Nonadiabatically Driven by Ultrafast Achiral Electric Fields
Here we demonstrate that, when driven by ultrafast electric pulses, chiral dynamical multiferroicity can also emerge even in situations where the external field is achiral.
PreprintObservation of the Nernst effect driven by longitudinal spin fluctuations
The Nernst effect driven by the longitudinal spin fluctuations reveals that not only the static magnetic order but also the spin fluctuations can be a driving force of the Nernst effect in magnetic materials, opening another way for boosting transverse thermoelectric conversion.
PreprintMaterial-architecture-manufacture integrated strategy for piezoelectric metamaterials with mechanical protection and self-powered sensing
Herein, we presented a material-architecture-manufacture integrated strategy for piezoelectric metamaterials to simultaneously achieve mechanical protection and self-powered sensing.
Peer-reviewed journalBold claims, read criticallyReal-world useDevice contacts as spin-state selectors for silicon vacancies in 4H-SiC
Using the silicon vacancy (V) in silicon carbide (SiC) as a model system, we show that a widely used contact metal, nickel (Ni), intrinsically perturbs the defect spin state and quenches the characteristic emission from the spin-quartet channel of V.
PreprintTough and high-temperature stable nacre-like Bi4Ti3O12-based piezoceramics
Here, we fabricate nacre-like <00l>-textured (f_00l > 94%) Bi3.96Ce0.04Ti2.965W0.0175Nb0.0175O12 (NL-BCWNT) ceramics via a scalable magnetic-assisted slip casting (MASC) self-assembly process.
PreprintReal-world useBulk 1T-NbSe2 Superconductor Stabilized by the Doped Ti-3d0 Electronic Configuration
Herein, we successfully synthesized 1T-Nb0.92Ti0.08Se2 crystals through a chemical vapor transport method.
Peer-reviewed journalPhase Boundary Engineering Enables Multivalley Activation for High-Performance ZrCoSb Half-Heuslers
This study highlights the pivotal role of phase diagram engineering in maximizing the thermoelectric performance of ZrCoSb-based half-Heusler materials.
Peer-reviewed journalBold claims, read criticallyReal-world useHamiltonian learning reveals optoelectronic mechanisms across thermodynamic state space in soft semiconductors
FLOW-OTTER thus establishes Hamiltonian learning as a general route from thermodynamic trajectories to experimentally grounded optoelectronic mechanisms.
PreprintImpact of Chemical Clustering on the Structural, Topological, and Functional Properties of Ba(ZrTi)O: An Atomistic Simulation Study
Ultimately, these findings establish a quantitative link between nanoscale compositional heterogeneity, polar domain topology, and macroscopic performance, providing a robust framework for engineering lead-free perovskites via local chemical order control.
PreprintReal-world useSingle Best Fits Can Be Misleading: Resolving Common Trapping Signatures across FA--Cs Perovskites
We further identify as a shared, device-performance-limiting non-radiative recombination channel, while a shallow signature unique to FAPbI produces the largest steady-state non-radiative recombination rate and is consistent with the previously observed high stacking-fault density of this composition.
PreprintBold claims, read criticallyCode available