An article in Science Advances presents a material that can intrinsically change colour depending on the incoming light.

An article in Nature Materials reports the synthesis of single crystals of ultrathin gadolinium pentoxide (Gd2O5) that combine a high dielectric constant of 25.5 and a wide bandgap of almost 7 eV.

Advancements in materials science are central to space exploration, but equally important is addressing societal implications to ensure responsible and sustainable progress.

Correction to: Nature Reviews Materials https://doi.org/10.1038/s41578-024-00702-0, published online 7 August 2024.

An article in Nature Materials demonstrates that the use of dual-anion sublattices in solid-state electrolytes results in superior ionic conductivity and good cycling stability.

NASA’s Europa Clipper mission — named after nineteenth-century clipper ships — is now successfully on its way to Jupiter’s icy moon Europa after its launch on 14 October 2024. Europa is believed to have an ocean beneath its icy surface, possibly harbouring the right conditions for life. To investigate, the spacecraft will conduct nearly 50 close fly-bys of Europa to collect data. One of the mission’s

An important engineering achievement was made during the fifth test flight of the SpaceX Starship rocket system, as the Super Heavy booster — responsible for launching the rocket into space — was successfully caught mid-air at the Texas launch pad. After completing its role, the booster separated from the upper stage to reduce weight, allowing Starship to continue its journey. Typically, rocket boosters

An article in Nature Communications uses mechanophores to visualize shockwaves, induced by high-velocity impacts, in a block copolymer.

The China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) has recently unveiled its first lunar spacesuit specifically designed for crewed moon landings, the first of which is planned for 2030. Like all extravehicular activity suits, lunar spacesuits must provide protection from the vacuum of space, extreme temperatures and radiation. However, lunar missions present additional challenges, such as preventing the infiltration

Additive manufacturing, or 3D printing, is promising for the production of tools, components and spare parts directly in space, reducing the need for frequent resupply missions. However, 3D printing in microgravity is challenging owing to issues such as unpredictable material behaviour and difficult extrusion control. Recently, the European Space Agency demonstrated the first successful printing of

Plants are vital to future long-term space missions as a renewable food source and ecological system for producing essential substances. NASA has been developing special chambers to grow fresh vegetables in space, and printed electronics may be the key to monitoring the health and growth of these plants with minimal human effort, resources and energy.

Sorbent materials that capture and release water molecules are key to technologies that turn the Earth’s ambient moisture into drinkable water and energy.

An article in Advanced Functional Materials uses a photothermal bridge to improve the desorption performance of a metal–organic framework sorbent.

An article in Chemical Communications clarifies an important role of hydrogen-bonding sites in metal–organic framework sorbents.

An article in Advanced Materials designs a sorbent-based cooling system that can dissipate the heat produced by heavy-load power equipment.

An article in Nature Communications optimizes a sorption-based atmospheric water harvesting system across scales — material, device design and operation.

An article in Nature Materials reports the fabrication of microscopic metasheet robots that can be electronically controlled to achieve a range of shapes and a locomotion gait.

Correction to: Nature Reviews Materials https://doi.org/10.1038/s41578-023-00637-y, published online 6 February 2024.

An article in Communications Engineering presents a technique for the 3D reconstruction of nanoscale objects that uses atomic force microscopy and a computer vision algorithm.

Large language models are very effective at solving general tasks, but can also be useful in materials design and extracting and using information from the scientific literature and unstructured corpora. In the domain of alloy design and manufacturing, they can expedite the materials design process and enable the inclusion of holistic criteria.

Thin-film solar cells are promising for providing cost-effective and reliable power in space, especially in multi-junction applications. To enhance efficiency, robustness and integration, advancements at the cell level must be combined with improvements in assembly and panel design. Ensuring that solar cells can provide sustained performance is also essential for minimizing space debris.

An article in Nature Communications presents an adaptable and scalable approach to synthesize high-entropy single-atom nanocage catalysts for efficient ammonia electrosynthesis.

An article in the Journal of the American Chemical Society reports porous photocatalytic nanowires that extract record amounts of uranium from seawater, a step closer to tapping the ocean’s vast uranium reserves for nuclear energy.

An article in Nature reports the observation of giant terahertz magnetoelectric oscillations in a van der Waals multiferroic and presents a theoretical model that elucidates their origin.

An article in Science Robotics presents a high-energy-density, picolitre-sized battery.

In her memoir Human Rights and Peace, a Personal Odyssey, Zafra Lerman, an Israeli-American chemist and science diplomat, recounts her remarkable life.

An article in Nature presents a polymeric thermoelectric material with a figure of merit of 1.28.

An article in Nature Materials describes the bioprinting of hydrogel force sensors directly into the tissues of live embryos to quantify the mechanical forces driving morphogenesis.

An article in Science presents a sustainable biomass-derived material for efficient passive radiative cooling.

An article in Nature Communications presents a synthetic biodegradable void-forming hydrogel that supports in vitro formation of 3D networks from human primary cells for bone-on-a-chip applications.

Thanks to improved control of device fabrication and an expanding characterization toolbox, moiré materials stay in the spotlight as we discover more about the unique phenomena they realize.

An article in Nature Communications reports the identification of two non-volatile spin textures in twisted double-bilayer CrI3, which can be switched by a magnetic field and read out via electrical measurements.

A paper in the Journal of Applied Physics reports a way to apply strain to two-dimensional devices while measuring simultaneously their electrical and optical properties.

An article in Advanced Materials shows that the moiré superlattice in a ferromagnetic heterostructure comprising a twisted WS2/WS2 bilayer enhances the spin–orbit torque efficiency and increases its gate tunability.

More than 40 years after the discovery of the quantum Hall effect, the investigation of new variants of this phenomenon and of the exotic physics they represent is still a lively research topic. In this Viewpoint, five scientists involved in the very recent discovery of a new type of Hall effect — the fractional quantum anomalous Hall effect — discuss their results and their implications.