Pub Date : 2025-12-26DOI: 10.1038/s41565-025-02039-3
Yixi Zhou, Zhiwei Guo, Aitana Tarazaga Martín-Luengo, Christian Lanza, Gonzalo Álvarez-Pérez, Chengguang Yu, Chongrui Li, Weixiang Xia, José Álvarez Cuervo, Xiaoyang Duan, Yang Wang, Javier Martín-Sánchez, Alexey Y. Nikitin, Yugui Yao, Jiafang Li, Pablo Alonso-Gonzalez, Jiahua Duan
Polaritons are hybrid quasiparticles consisting of photons and electric (or magnetic) dipole-carrying excitations. Their observation has advanced our understanding of light–matter interactions and led to the manipulation of energy flows at the nanoscale. The discovery of strongly anisotropic van der Waals materials and the almost simultaneous development of near-field imaging techniques have led to the observation of a variety of highly confined polaritons with exotic properties, such as unidirectional, diffractionless or ray-like propagation, and hyperbolic dispersion. In this Review, we highlight the fundamental optical phenomena that have been redefined by these anisotropic polaritons, including anomalous cases of refraction, reflection and focusing. These phenomena promise unprecedented control over light–matter interactions at the nanoscale in spectral regions spanning from the visible to the terahertz. We also review strategies to manipulate these polaritons and offer our perspective on the challenges facing polaritonic research over the coming years towards practical applications. This Review highlights fundamental optical phenomena that have been redefined at the nanoscale by anisotropic polaritons, including anomalous cases of refraction, reflection and focusing.
{"title":"Fundamental optical phenomena of strongly anisotropic polaritons at the nanoscale","authors":"Yixi Zhou, Zhiwei Guo, Aitana Tarazaga Martín-Luengo, Christian Lanza, Gonzalo Álvarez-Pérez, Chengguang Yu, Chongrui Li, Weixiang Xia, José Álvarez Cuervo, Xiaoyang Duan, Yang Wang, Javier Martín-Sánchez, Alexey Y. Nikitin, Yugui Yao, Jiafang Li, Pablo Alonso-Gonzalez, Jiahua Duan","doi":"10.1038/s41565-025-02039-3","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41565-025-02039-3","url":null,"abstract":"Polaritons are hybrid quasiparticles consisting of photons and electric (or magnetic) dipole-carrying excitations. Their observation has advanced our understanding of light–matter interactions and led to the manipulation of energy flows at the nanoscale. The discovery of strongly anisotropic van der Waals materials and the almost simultaneous development of near-field imaging techniques have led to the observation of a variety of highly confined polaritons with exotic properties, such as unidirectional, diffractionless or ray-like propagation, and hyperbolic dispersion. In this Review, we highlight the fundamental optical phenomena that have been redefined by these anisotropic polaritons, including anomalous cases of refraction, reflection and focusing. These phenomena promise unprecedented control over light–matter interactions at the nanoscale in spectral regions spanning from the visible to the terahertz. We also review strategies to manipulate these polaritons and offer our perspective on the challenges facing polaritonic research over the coming years towards practical applications. This Review highlights fundamental optical phenomena that have been redefined at the nanoscale by anisotropic polaritons, including anomalous cases of refraction, reflection and focusing.","PeriodicalId":18915,"journal":{"name":"Nature nanotechnology","volume":"21 1","pages":"23-38"},"PeriodicalIF":34.9,"publicationDate":"2025-12-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145843836","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-12-24DOI: 10.1038/s41565-025-02080-2
Dana Goerzen, Mijin Kim, Chanel Schroff, Margaret Ngoc Hoang, Jaina Sarris Wollowitz, August Kolb, Jordain P. Walshon, Kathleen McCortney, Craig Horbinski, Kristyn Galbraith, Sana Raoof, Matija Snuderl, Alban Ordureau, Daniel A. Heller
The detection and identification of intracranial tumours is limited by the lack of accurate biomarkers and requires invasive biopsy procedures. We investigated a machine perception liquid biopsy approach to detect and identify intracranial tumours from peripheral blood and to discover biomarkers responsible for the predictions. Quantum well defect-modified single-walled carbon nanotubes stabilized with single-stranded DNA, interrogating 739 plasma samples from brain tumour patients, were used to train and validate machine-learning models to detect intracranial tumours with 98% accuracy and identify tumour type. The protein corona of the top model-contributing nanosensor was interrogated using quantitative proteomics, resulting in the identification of tumour ecosystem-secreted factors, both previously reported and newly discovered, originating from intracranial tumour cells, the tumour microenvironment and the innate immune system of patients with glioblastoma and meningioma. Newly discovered factors elicited linear nanosensor responses and were elevated in one or both tumour types, matching the original protein corona enrichment. This investigation reveals that a perception-based detection of disease in blood can identify biomarkers responsible for the signal and also amplify cancer detection signals by detecting factors beyond tumour cells, thereby recruiting the entire tumour ecosystem for cancer diagnosis. Engineered carbon nanotube sensors enable the detection of intracranial tumours in blood, identify low-abundance biomarkers and amplify cancer detection by capturing secreted factors from the entire tumour ecosystem for early-stage disease diagnosis.
{"title":"Machine perception liquid biopsy identifies brain tumours via systemic immune and tumour microenvironment signature","authors":"Dana Goerzen, Mijin Kim, Chanel Schroff, Margaret Ngoc Hoang, Jaina Sarris Wollowitz, August Kolb, Jordain P. Walshon, Kathleen McCortney, Craig Horbinski, Kristyn Galbraith, Sana Raoof, Matija Snuderl, Alban Ordureau, Daniel A. Heller","doi":"10.1038/s41565-025-02080-2","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41565-025-02080-2","url":null,"abstract":"The detection and identification of intracranial tumours is limited by the lack of accurate biomarkers and requires invasive biopsy procedures. We investigated a machine perception liquid biopsy approach to detect and identify intracranial tumours from peripheral blood and to discover biomarkers responsible for the predictions. Quantum well defect-modified single-walled carbon nanotubes stabilized with single-stranded DNA, interrogating 739 plasma samples from brain tumour patients, were used to train and validate machine-learning models to detect intracranial tumours with 98% accuracy and identify tumour type. The protein corona of the top model-contributing nanosensor was interrogated using quantitative proteomics, resulting in the identification of tumour ecosystem-secreted factors, both previously reported and newly discovered, originating from intracranial tumour cells, the tumour microenvironment and the innate immune system of patients with glioblastoma and meningioma. Newly discovered factors elicited linear nanosensor responses and were elevated in one or both tumour types, matching the original protein corona enrichment. This investigation reveals that a perception-based detection of disease in blood can identify biomarkers responsible for the signal and also amplify cancer detection signals by detecting factors beyond tumour cells, thereby recruiting the entire tumour ecosystem for cancer diagnosis. Engineered carbon nanotube sensors enable the detection of intracranial tumours in blood, identify low-abundance biomarkers and amplify cancer detection by capturing secreted factors from the entire tumour ecosystem for early-stage disease diagnosis.","PeriodicalId":18915,"journal":{"name":"Nature nanotechnology","volume":"21 2","pages":"277-287"},"PeriodicalIF":34.9,"publicationDate":"2025-12-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.comhttps://www.nature.com/articles/s41565-025-02080-2.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145814082","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-12-23DOI: 10.1038/s41565-025-02098-6
Michael Torrice
Companies are scaling up advanced recycling technologies that could expand capacity, but experts think policies that level the economic playing field are currently the bottleneck.
公司正在扩大先进的回收技术，这可能会扩大产能，但专家认为，目前的瓶颈是公平的经济竞争环境的政策。
{"title":"Why plastic recycling stalls","authors":"Michael Torrice","doi":"10.1038/s41565-025-02098-6","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41565-025-02098-6","url":null,"abstract":"Companies are scaling up advanced recycling technologies that could expand capacity, but experts think policies that level the economic playing field are currently the bottleneck.","PeriodicalId":18915,"journal":{"name":"Nature nanotechnology","volume":"21 2","pages":"169-171"},"PeriodicalIF":34.9,"publicationDate":"2025-12-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145820144","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-12-23DOI: 10.1038/s41565-025-02094-w
Elizaveta Semenova, Alexander Huck
By harnessing the hyperfine coupling to the hydrogen nuclear spin and a nearby 29Si nuclear spin, a T-centre in silicon forms a combined quantum register and a spin–photon interface that is operational in the telecommunications original band.
{"title":"Unlocking silicon’s hidden talent for spin quantum photonics","authors":"Elizaveta Semenova, Alexander Huck","doi":"10.1038/s41565-025-02094-w","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41565-025-02094-w","url":null,"abstract":"By harnessing the hyperfine coupling to the hydrogen nuclear spin and a nearby 29Si nuclear spin, a T-centre in silicon forms a combined quantum register and a spin–photon interface that is operational in the telecommunications original band.","PeriodicalId":18915,"journal":{"name":"Nature nanotechnology","volume":"21 1","pages":"9-10"},"PeriodicalIF":34.9,"publicationDate":"2025-12-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145813384","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-12-23DOI: 10.1038/s41565-025-02092-y
Nam-Yung Park, Geon-Tae Park, Ji-Hyun Ryu, Seong-Eun Park, Jae-Ho Kim, Seung-Yong Lee, Junhyeok Choi, Yong Min Lee, Min Gyu Kim, Heebeom Lee, Joseph P. Cline, Zhao Liu, Hun-Gi Jung, Yang-Kook Sun
Ni-rich layered oxide positive electrode active materials are promising for high-energy non-aqueous lithium-based batteries, but their poor structural stability limits their high-power applications. Here, to address this issue, we propose a two-step doping strategy for the synthesis of Ni-rich positive electrode active materials. This involves an initial lithiation of the hydroxide precursor at an intermediate temperature, followed by cooling, dopant mixing and high-temperature calcination. This approach yields positive electrode active materials with nanoscale primary particles, thereby improving mechanical stability and suppressing intergranular cracking. Moreover, the material prepared via a two-step doping strategy exhibits a layered–rocksalt nanostructured multiphase, which reversibly transforms into a layered-spinel nanostructured multiphase upon cell charging, facilitating lithium-ion diffusion. As a result, the nanostructured Nb-doped Ni-rich multiphase positive electrode active material enables improved high-rate performance when tested in both Li metal coin cell and Li-ion pouch cell configurations, also applying electric vertical take-off and landing testing protocols. A two-step doping strategy for preparing Nb-doped Ni-rich positive electrode active materials forms nanosized grains and enables reversible multiphase transitions, improving lithium-ion transport and high-power performance of Li-based batteries.
{"title":"Nanostructured niobium-doped nickel-rich multiphase positive electrode active material for high-power lithium-based batteries","authors":"Nam-Yung Park, Geon-Tae Park, Ji-Hyun Ryu, Seong-Eun Park, Jae-Ho Kim, Seung-Yong Lee, Junhyeok Choi, Yong Min Lee, Min Gyu Kim, Heebeom Lee, Joseph P. Cline, Zhao Liu, Hun-Gi Jung, Yang-Kook Sun","doi":"10.1038/s41565-025-02092-y","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41565-025-02092-y","url":null,"abstract":"Ni-rich layered oxide positive electrode active materials are promising for high-energy non-aqueous lithium-based batteries, but their poor structural stability limits their high-power applications. Here, to address this issue, we propose a two-step doping strategy for the synthesis of Ni-rich positive electrode active materials. This involves an initial lithiation of the hydroxide precursor at an intermediate temperature, followed by cooling, dopant mixing and high-temperature calcination. This approach yields positive electrode active materials with nanoscale primary particles, thereby improving mechanical stability and suppressing intergranular cracking. Moreover, the material prepared via a two-step doping strategy exhibits a layered–rocksalt nanostructured multiphase, which reversibly transforms into a layered-spinel nanostructured multiphase upon cell charging, facilitating lithium-ion diffusion. As a result, the nanostructured Nb-doped Ni-rich multiphase positive electrode active material enables improved high-rate performance when tested in both Li metal coin cell and Li-ion pouch cell configurations, also applying electric vertical take-off and landing testing protocols. A two-step doping strategy for preparing Nb-doped Ni-rich positive electrode active materials forms nanosized grains and enables reversible multiphase transitions, improving lithium-ion transport and high-power performance of Li-based batteries.","PeriodicalId":18915,"journal":{"name":"Nature nanotechnology","volume":"21 2","pages":"240-248"},"PeriodicalIF":34.9,"publicationDate":"2025-12-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145808201","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-12-23DOI: 10.1038/s41565-025-02071-3
Wang Ying, Chuanhao Zheng, Chunli Gong, Junxiao Yuan, Guoyang Xu, Jin Zhou, Chaoqiang Fan, Yuchen Zhang, Jie Luo, Ruijue Dan, Yu Huang, Xin Li, Weiyan Chen, Kebin Zhang, Malcolm Xing, Lei Wang, Hao Wang, Shiming Yang, Qiang Luo
Limited immune cell infiltration is the main reason for poor immunotherapeutic efficacy in colorectal cancer patients. Here we design a peptide-based nanorobot that recognizes PD-L1 and breaks cancer cell membranes by in situ forming fibrils through a pH-responsive module. The nanorobot shows long retention in targeted tumours (>120 h) through interaction with PD-L1 and blocks PD-1/PD-L1 to activate the T cell killing effect. At the same time, in the tumour microenvironment (pH 6.5), it forms fibrils that break the cancer cell membrane, inducing immunogenic cell death with the release of damage-associated molecular patterns and the subsequent infiltration of T cells. The nanorobot shows higher therapeutic efficacy than the regimen of αPD-L1+oxaliplatin in a variety of colorectal-cancer-tumour-bearing mouse models and has good biocompatibility due to the targeted breakage of cancer cells, exhibiting great potential for colorectal cancer immunotherapy in clinic. A peptide-based PD-L1-targeted nanorobot disrupts cancer cell membranes via pH-responsive fibril formation, and enhances T cell infiltration and immune activation, inducing a potent anticancer response in animal models of colorectal cancer.
{"title":"Nanorobots hold PD-L1 and break membrane of colorectal cancer cells for immunotherapy","authors":"Wang Ying, Chuanhao Zheng, Chunli Gong, Junxiao Yuan, Guoyang Xu, Jin Zhou, Chaoqiang Fan, Yuchen Zhang, Jie Luo, Ruijue Dan, Yu Huang, Xin Li, Weiyan Chen, Kebin Zhang, Malcolm Xing, Lei Wang, Hao Wang, Shiming Yang, Qiang Luo","doi":"10.1038/s41565-025-02071-3","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41565-025-02071-3","url":null,"abstract":"Limited immune cell infiltration is the main reason for poor immunotherapeutic efficacy in colorectal cancer patients. Here we design a peptide-based nanorobot that recognizes PD-L1 and breaks cancer cell membranes by in situ forming fibrils through a pH-responsive module. The nanorobot shows long retention in targeted tumours (>120 h) through interaction with PD-L1 and blocks PD-1/PD-L1 to activate the T cell killing effect. At the same time, in the tumour microenvironment (pH 6.5), it forms fibrils that break the cancer cell membrane, inducing immunogenic cell death with the release of damage-associated molecular patterns and the subsequent infiltration of T cells. The nanorobot shows higher therapeutic efficacy than the regimen of αPD-L1+oxaliplatin in a variety of colorectal-cancer-tumour-bearing mouse models and has good biocompatibility due to the targeted breakage of cancer cells, exhibiting great potential for colorectal cancer immunotherapy in clinic. A peptide-based PD-L1-targeted nanorobot disrupts cancer cell membranes via pH-responsive fibril formation, and enhances T cell infiltration and immune activation, inducing a potent anticancer response in animal models of colorectal cancer.","PeriodicalId":18915,"journal":{"name":"Nature nanotechnology","volume":"21 1","pages":"156-167"},"PeriodicalIF":34.9,"publicationDate":"2025-12-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145808176","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-12-23DOI: 10.1038/s41565-025-02070-4
In-Yong Suh, Young-Jun Kim, Sang-Woo Kim
A hand-rotation-powered, nanomaterial-enabled disinfection system generates reactive oxygen species that rapidly disinfect a wide range of pathogens by leveraging mechanically induced interfacial electric fields. This electricity-free operation, having high efficiency, safety and long-lasting microbial protection, offers a robust, portable solution for clean-water access in disaster situations and in environments where the electricity grid is unavailable.
{"title":"Portable hand-powered nanocatalysis for water disinfection","authors":"In-Yong Suh, Young-Jun Kim, Sang-Woo Kim","doi":"10.1038/s41565-025-02070-4","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41565-025-02070-4","url":null,"abstract":"A hand-rotation-powered, nanomaterial-enabled disinfection system generates reactive oxygen species that rapidly disinfect a wide range of pathogens by leveraging mechanically induced interfacial electric fields. This electricity-free operation, having high efficiency, safety and long-lasting microbial protection, offers a robust, portable solution for clean-water access in disaster situations and in environments where the electricity grid is unavailable.","PeriodicalId":18915,"journal":{"name":"Nature nanotechnology","volume":"21 1","pages":"15-16"},"PeriodicalIF":34.9,"publicationDate":"2025-12-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145813383","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-12-19DOI: 10.1038/s41565-025-02078-w
Mikkel Juelsholt
In single-crystal layered lithium nickel manganese cobalt oxides, Mn is detrimental, and Co is beneficial to battery performance, unlike in polycrystalline compounds, where these roles are reversed.
{"title":"Reversing the polycrystalline rules in single-crystal battery positive electrodes","authors":"Mikkel Juelsholt","doi":"10.1038/s41565-025-02078-w","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41565-025-02078-w","url":null,"abstract":"In single-crystal layered lithium nickel manganese cobalt oxides, Mn is detrimental, and Co is beneficial to battery performance, unlike in polycrystalline compounds, where these roles are reversed.","PeriodicalId":18915,"journal":{"name":"Nature nanotechnology","volume":"21 2","pages":"174-175"},"PeriodicalIF":34.9,"publicationDate":"2025-12-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145794275","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-12-16DOI: 10.1038/s41565-025-02079-9
Jing Wang, Tongchao Liu, Weiyuan Huang, Lei Yu, Haozhe Zhang, Tao Zhou, Tianyi Li, Xiaojing Huang, Xianghui Xiao, Lu Ma, Martin V. Holt, Kun Ryu, Rachid Amine, Wenqian Xu, Luxi Li, Jianguo Wen, Ying Shirley Meng, Khalil Amine
Single-crystal Ni-rich layered oxides (SC-NMC) with a grain-boundary-free configuration have effectively addressed the long-standing cracking issue of conventional polycrystalline Ni-rich materials (PC-NMC) in lithium-ion batteries, prompting a shift in optimization strategies. However, continued reliance on anisotropic lattice volume change—a well-established failure indicator in PC-NMC—as a metric for understanding strain and guiding compositional design for SC-NMC becomes controversial. Here, by leveraging multiscale diagnostic techniques, we unravelled the distinct nanoscopic strain evolution in SC-NMC during battery operation, challenging the conventional composition-driven strategies and mechanical degradation indicators used for PC-NMC. Through particle-level chemomechanical analysis, we reveal a decoupling between mechanical stability and lattice volume change in SC-NMC, identifying that structural instability in SC materials is primarily driven by multidimensional lattice distortions induced by kinetics-driven reaction heterogeneity and progressively deactivating chemical phases. Using this mechanical failure mode, we redefine the roles of cobalt and manganese in maintaining mechanical stability. Unlike cobalt’s detrimental role in PC-NMC, we find cobalt to be critical in enhancing the longevity of SC-NMC by mitigating localized strain along the extended diffusion pathway, whereas manganese exacerbates mechanical degradation. This study elucidates nanoscopic strain evolution in single-crystal Ni-rich positive electrodes, demonstrating that mechanical failure results from lattice distortions, and redefines the roles of cobalt and manganese in battery cycling stability.
{"title":"Nanoscopic strain evolution in single-crystal battery positive electrodes","authors":"Jing Wang, Tongchao Liu, Weiyuan Huang, Lei Yu, Haozhe Zhang, Tao Zhou, Tianyi Li, Xiaojing Huang, Xianghui Xiao, Lu Ma, Martin V. Holt, Kun Ryu, Rachid Amine, Wenqian Xu, Luxi Li, Jianguo Wen, Ying Shirley Meng, Khalil Amine","doi":"10.1038/s41565-025-02079-9","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41565-025-02079-9","url":null,"abstract":"Single-crystal Ni-rich layered oxides (SC-NMC) with a grain-boundary-free configuration have effectively addressed the long-standing cracking issue of conventional polycrystalline Ni-rich materials (PC-NMC) in lithium-ion batteries, prompting a shift in optimization strategies. However, continued reliance on anisotropic lattice volume change—a well-established failure indicator in PC-NMC—as a metric for understanding strain and guiding compositional design for SC-NMC becomes controversial. Here, by leveraging multiscale diagnostic techniques, we unravelled the distinct nanoscopic strain evolution in SC-NMC during battery operation, challenging the conventional composition-driven strategies and mechanical degradation indicators used for PC-NMC. Through particle-level chemomechanical analysis, we reveal a decoupling between mechanical stability and lattice volume change in SC-NMC, identifying that structural instability in SC materials is primarily driven by multidimensional lattice distortions induced by kinetics-driven reaction heterogeneity and progressively deactivating chemical phases. Using this mechanical failure mode, we redefine the roles of cobalt and manganese in maintaining mechanical stability. Unlike cobalt’s detrimental role in PC-NMC, we find cobalt to be critical in enhancing the longevity of SC-NMC by mitigating localized strain along the extended diffusion pathway, whereas manganese exacerbates mechanical degradation. This study elucidates nanoscopic strain evolution in single-crystal Ni-rich positive electrodes, demonstrating that mechanical failure results from lattice distortions, and redefines the roles of cobalt and manganese in battery cycling stability.","PeriodicalId":18915,"journal":{"name":"Nature nanotechnology","volume":"21 2","pages":"229-239"},"PeriodicalIF":34.9,"publicationDate":"2025-12-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145765300","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-12-15DOI: 10.1038/s41565-025-02090-0
Shu Zhang, Puyi Ma, Oubo You, Shenghan Zhou, Kaijun Feng, Hongyi Yuan, Jinhao Zhang, Chenchen Wu, Yang Luo, Bei Yang, Cheng-Wei Qiu, Xiaoxia Yang, Xiangdong Guo, Yichun Liu, Shuang Zhang, Qing Dai
Advances in polaritonic materials, where coupling between light and matter creates hybrid states, have enhanced our ability to control light propagation at nano and atomic scales. Conventional polariton modulation techniques, particularly topological modulation, are limited by the stringent momentum-matching requirement between light and the material’s coupling mode. Here we propose a phonon-engineering strategy that utilizes anisotropic phononic materials in α-MoO3 to transform circular surface polaritons into hyperbolic asymptotic line polaritons (HALPs) in high-symmetry AlN semiconductors. This approach circumvents the strict requirement for momentum matching via phonon-induced anisotropic Lorentz-type dielectric oscillations. Our system shows broadband modulation of HALP in AlN (~55 cm−1), achieving an approximate 90° tuning range for the isofrequency contour’s open angle. This enables precise phase control for diffraction-free zero-phase propagation. Notably, precise control of atomic isotopes and crystal structure allows further modulation of HALP propagation directions. Our strategy can be generalized to other systems to achieve hyperbolic polaritons in high-symmetry materials. Phonon engineering with anisotropic Lorentz-type dielectric oscillations enables the creation of hyperbolic asymptotic line polaritons, achieving broadband diffraction-free propagation.
{"title":"Phonon engineering enables hyperbolic asymptotic line polaritons","authors":"Shu Zhang, Puyi Ma, Oubo You, Shenghan Zhou, Kaijun Feng, Hongyi Yuan, Jinhao Zhang, Chenchen Wu, Yang Luo, Bei Yang, Cheng-Wei Qiu, Xiaoxia Yang, Xiangdong Guo, Yichun Liu, Shuang Zhang, Qing Dai","doi":"10.1038/s41565-025-02090-0","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41565-025-02090-0","url":null,"abstract":"Advances in polaritonic materials, where coupling between light and matter creates hybrid states, have enhanced our ability to control light propagation at nano and atomic scales. Conventional polariton modulation techniques, particularly topological modulation, are limited by the stringent momentum-matching requirement between light and the material’s coupling mode. Here we propose a phonon-engineering strategy that utilizes anisotropic phononic materials in α-MoO3 to transform circular surface polaritons into hyperbolic asymptotic line polaritons (HALPs) in high-symmetry AlN semiconductors. This approach circumvents the strict requirement for momentum matching via phonon-induced anisotropic Lorentz-type dielectric oscillations. Our system shows broadband modulation of HALP in AlN (~55 cm−1), achieving an approximate 90° tuning range for the isofrequency contour’s open angle. This enables precise phase control for diffraction-free zero-phase propagation. Notably, precise control of atomic isotopes and crystal structure allows further modulation of HALP propagation directions. Our strategy can be generalized to other systems to achieve hyperbolic polaritons in high-symmetry materials. Phonon engineering with anisotropic Lorentz-type dielectric oscillations enables the creation of hyperbolic asymptotic line polaritons, achieving broadband diffraction-free propagation.","PeriodicalId":18915,"journal":{"name":"Nature nanotechnology","volume":"21 2","pages":"223-228"},"PeriodicalIF":34.9,"publicationDate":"2025-12-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145759846","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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