The authors review the mechanisms of resistive switching in monolayer and bulk forms of two-dimensional layered materials, providing insights into atomic motions and electronic transport across interfaces.

Architected materials provide a pathway to achieve properties beyond those of monolithic materials. This Perspective discusses complex architecture designs and their fabrication, characterization and functions across length scales and timescales.

High-quality, non-layered 2D β-Bi₂O₃ crystals are grown using a vapour–liquid–solid–solid growth technique. These crystals demonstrate promising properties for p-channel field-effect transistors.

Mechanical stiffness and self-healing properties are difficult to combine in synthetic hydrogels. Using polymer entanglements in co-planar nanoconfinement, stiff and self-healing hydrogels are fabricated, with applications in biology and engineering.

Intrinsic toughening in two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenides can be achieved simply by twisting the layers. This twisting promotes cross-layer healing and grain boundary formation, which shield fracture tips from stress concentration.

The authors demonstrate broadband terahertz emission from a two-dimensional van der Waals ferroelectric semiconductor, NbOI₂, that originates from its efficient optical rectification and apply it to realize in situ near-field terahertz spectroscopy.

Characterizing the interference of phonons at the single-molecule level remains a challenging task. Here, the authors observe and characterize destructive phonon interference in molecular junctions at room temperature.

Achieving both high efficiency and narrow emission in organic light-emitting transistors (OLETs) remains a challenge. Here the authors demonstrate laterally integrated OLETs with an intrinsic microcavity that achieve both enhanced efficiency and narrow emission.

Fracture behaviours in multilayer h-BN, involving interlayer-friction toughening and edge-reconstruction embrittlement, are identified through in situ experiments and theoretical analyses.

Extracellular anisotropic stresses trigger fibroblast transition into myofibroblasts by the mechanical self-reinforcement of cell–extracellular matrix interactions.

Metamaterials are advancing with intricate structure designs and material combinations, with the support of computational methods and scalable fabrication techniques. These advancements enable the creation of multifunctional and smart devices, with growing presence in commercial devices.

Non-fullerene acceptors help organic solar cells achieve high performance, transforming organic photovoltaics into a useful technology.

Derya Baran, an associate professor at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (Department of Materials Science and Engineering), talks to Nature Materials about the progress of laboratory-to-fabrication for organic photovoltaics

Jenny Nelson, a professor at Imperial College London (Department of Physics), talks to Nature Materials about recent research advances in organic photovoltaics.

The sorption and storage properties of metal–organic frameworks are extensively reported but their commercialization has been slow. Collaborative efforts from scientists, engineers and investors are needed to accelerate the transition from laboratory to the marketplace.

Improved thermoelectric refrigeration at cryogenic temperatures may lead to enhanced technologies and better research capabilities.