Pub Date : 2026-01-02DOI: 10.1038/s41563-025-02422-4
Huiqi Li, Rui Zeng, Zixiao Shi, Hongsen Wang, Denis Leshchev, Eli Stavitski, Miriam M Tellez-Cruz, Weixuan Xu, Mi-Ju Kim, Andrés Molina Villarino, Qihao Li, David A Muller, Héctor D Abruña
The lack of mechanistic understanding and catalyst design principles for alkaline electrolytes, especially for the sluggish oxygen reduction reaction, has impeded the advancement of alkaline fuel cells. Here we propose a modified volcano plot and apply this rationale to strategically design Pt nanosheets with PdHx nanosheets substrates. This catalyst exhibited high stability with a specific activity of 1.71 mA cm-2 at 0.95 V versus the reversible hydrogen electrode, surpassing the benchmark of Pt/C by 49-fold. Spectroscopic, electrochemical and electron microscopic characterizations revealed that such performance enhancement originated from tensile-strained Pt{111} facets, improving oxidative stability and suppressing carbon corrosion. In fuel cell testing, the catalyst enabled a peak power density of 1.67 W cm-2 with a loading of 10 µgPGM Cathode cm-2. Further optimization delivered a peak power density of 21.7 W mg-1PGM Cathode+Anode with a total specific catalyst cost US$1.27 kW-1, surpassing the US Department of Energy's Pt group metal loading and cost targets. This study provides valuable insights into catalyst design for the alkaline oxygen reduction reaction.
缺乏对碱性电解质的机理理解和催化剂设计原则,特别是对缓慢的氧还原反应,阻碍了碱性燃料电池的发展。在这里,我们提出了一个改进的火山图,并应用这一原理来策略性地设计铂纳米片与PdHx纳米片衬底。与可逆氢电极相比,该催化剂在0.95 V下的比活度为1.71 mA cm-2,比Pt/C基准高出49倍。光谱、电化学和电镜表征表明,这种性能增强源于拉伸应变Pt{111}面,提高了氧化稳定性,抑制了碳腐蚀。在燃料电池测试中,该催化剂在阴极cm-2负载为10µgPGM的情况下实现了1.67 W cm-2的峰值功率密度。进一步优化后,阴极+阳极的峰值功率密度为21.7 W mg-1PGM,总比催化剂成本为1.27 kW-1美元,超过了美国能源部Pt族金属负载和成本目标。本研究为碱氧还原反应的催化剂设计提供了有价值的见解。
{"title":"Rational design of high-performance low-loading oxygen reduction catalysts for alkaline fuel cells.","authors":"Huiqi Li, Rui Zeng, Zixiao Shi, Hongsen Wang, Denis Leshchev, Eli Stavitski, Miriam M Tellez-Cruz, Weixuan Xu, Mi-Ju Kim, Andrés Molina Villarino, Qihao Li, David A Muller, Héctor D Abruña","doi":"10.1038/s41563-025-02422-4","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41563-025-02422-4","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The lack of mechanistic understanding and catalyst design principles for alkaline electrolytes, especially for the sluggish oxygen reduction reaction, has impeded the advancement of alkaline fuel cells. Here we propose a modified volcano plot and apply this rationale to strategically design Pt nanosheets with PdH<sub>x</sub> nanosheets substrates. This catalyst exhibited high stability with a specific activity of 1.71 mA cm<sup>-2</sup> at 0.95 V versus the reversible hydrogen electrode, surpassing the benchmark of Pt/C by 49-fold. Spectroscopic, electrochemical and electron microscopic characterizations revealed that such performance enhancement originated from tensile-strained Pt{111} facets, improving oxidative stability and suppressing carbon corrosion. In fuel cell testing, the catalyst enabled a peak power density of 1.67 W cm<sup>-2</sup> with a loading of 10 µg<sub>PGM Cathode</sub> cm<sup>-2</sup>. Further optimization delivered a peak power density of 21.7 W mg<sup>-1</sup><sub>PGM Cathode+Anode</sub> with a total specific catalyst cost US$1.27 kW<sup>-1</sup>, surpassing the US Department of Energy's Pt group metal loading and cost targets. This study provides valuable insights into catalyst design for the alkaline oxygen reduction reaction.</p>","PeriodicalId":19058,"journal":{"name":"Nature Materials","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":38.5,"publicationDate":"2026-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145892704","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}
Materials design is an important component of modern science and technology, yet traditional approaches rely heavily on trial and error and can be inefficient. Computational techniques, enhanced by modern artificial intelligence, have reshaped the landscape of designing new materials. Among these approaches, inverse design has shown great promise in designing materials that meet specific property requirements. In this Review, we present key computational advances in materials design over the past few decades. We follow the evolution of relevant materials design techniques, from high-throughput forward machine learning methods and evolutionary algorithms, to advanced artificial intelligence strategies such as reinforcement learning and deep generative models. We highlight the paradigm shift from conventional screening approaches to inverse generation driven by deep generative models. Finally, we discuss current challenges and future perspectives of materials inverse design. This Review may serve as a brief guide to the approaches, progress and outlook of designing future functional materials with technological relevance. Computational approaches to materials design promise to accelerate the discovery of materials with superior functionalities. This Review presents key computational advances in materials design over the past few decades, highlighting the paradigm shift from conventional screening approaches to inverse generation driven by deep generative models. Current challenges and future perspectives of materials inverse design are also discussed.
{"title":"Artificial intelligence-driven approaches for materials design and discovery","authors":"Mouyang Cheng, Chu-Liang Fu, Ryotaro Okabe, Abhijatmedhi Chotrattanapituk, Artittaya Boonkird, Nguyen Tuan Hung, Mingda Li","doi":"10.1038/s41563-025-02403-7","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41563-025-02403-7","url":null,"abstract":"Materials design is an important component of modern science and technology, yet traditional approaches rely heavily on trial and error and can be inefficient. Computational techniques, enhanced by modern artificial intelligence, have reshaped the landscape of designing new materials. Among these approaches, inverse design has shown great promise in designing materials that meet specific property requirements. In this Review, we present key computational advances in materials design over the past few decades. We follow the evolution of relevant materials design techniques, from high-throughput forward machine learning methods and evolutionary algorithms, to advanced artificial intelligence strategies such as reinforcement learning and deep generative models. We highlight the paradigm shift from conventional screening approaches to inverse generation driven by deep generative models. Finally, we discuss current challenges and future perspectives of materials inverse design. This Review may serve as a brief guide to the approaches, progress and outlook of designing future functional materials with technological relevance. Computational approaches to materials design promise to accelerate the discovery of materials with superior functionalities. This Review presents key computational advances in materials design over the past few decades, highlighting the paradigm shift from conventional screening approaches to inverse generation driven by deep generative models. Current challenges and future perspectives of materials inverse design are also discussed.","PeriodicalId":19058,"journal":{"name":"Nature Materials","volume":"25 2","pages":"174-190"},"PeriodicalIF":38.5,"publicationDate":"2026-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145892713","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/s41563-025-02466-6
The ability to make porous extended structures in a predictable manner is now a mature and useful concept for materials scientists to solve real-world problems.
以可预测的方式制造多孔扩展结构的能力现在是材料科学家解决现实世界问题的成熟和有用的概念。
{"title":"Extended networks","authors":"","doi":"10.1038/s41563-025-02466-6","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41563-025-02466-6","url":null,"abstract":"The ability to make porous extended structures in a predictable manner is now a mature and useful concept for materials scientists to solve real-world problems.","PeriodicalId":19058,"journal":{"name":"Nature Materials","volume":"25 1","pages":"1-1"},"PeriodicalIF":38.5,"publicationDate":"2025-12-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.comhttps://www.nature.com/articles/s41563-025-02466-6.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145828025","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}
Magnetic kagome materials provide a platform for exploring magneto-transport phenomena, symmetry breaking and charge ordering driven by the intricate interplay among electronic structure, topology and magnetism. Yet geometric frustration in conventional kagome magnets limits their tunability. Here we propose a design strategy for interweaving quasi-one-dimensional magnetic Tb zigzag chains with non-magnetic Ti-based kagome bilayers in TbTi3Bi4. Comprehensive spectroscopic analyses reveal coexisting elliptical-spiral magnetic and spin-density-wave orders accompanied by a large ~90 meV band-folding gap. The combined magnetic and electronic state leads to a giant anomalous Hall conductivity of 105 Ω−1 cm−1, which exceeds that observed in frustrated kagome analogues. These results establish TbTi3Bi4 as a model system of magnetic kagome metals with strong electron–magnetism interactions and underscore the necessity of interweaving designed magnetic and charge layers separately to achieve tunable transport properties. This design strategy will enable the discovery of emergent quantum states and next-generation electronic materials.
{"title":"Interwoven magnetic kagome metal overcomes geometric frustration","authors":"Erjian Cheng, Kaipu Wang, Yiqing Hao, Wenqing Chen, Hengxin Tan, Zongkai Li, Meixiao Wang, Wenli Gao, Di Wu, Shuaishuai Sun, Tianping Ying, Simin Nie, Yiwei Li, Walter Schnelle, Houke Chen, Xingjiang Zhou, Ralf Koban, Yulin Chen, Binghai Yan, Yi-feng Yang, Weida Wu, Zhongkai Liu, Claudia Felser","doi":"10.1038/s41563-025-02414-4","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-025-02414-4","url":null,"abstract":"Magnetic kagome materials provide a platform for exploring magneto-transport phenomena, symmetry breaking and charge ordering driven by the intricate interplay among electronic structure, topology and magnetism. Yet geometric frustration in conventional kagome magnets limits their tunability. Here we propose a design strategy for interweaving quasi-one-dimensional magnetic Tb zigzag chains with non-magnetic Ti-based kagome bilayers in TbTi3Bi4. Comprehensive spectroscopic analyses reveal coexisting elliptical-spiral magnetic and spin-density-wave orders accompanied by a large ~90 meV band-folding gap. The combined magnetic and electronic state leads to a giant anomalous Hall conductivity of 105 Ω−1 cm−1, which exceeds that observed in frustrated kagome analogues. These results establish TbTi3Bi4 as a model system of magnetic kagome metals with strong electron–magnetism interactions and underscore the necessity of interweaving designed magnetic and charge layers separately to achieve tunable transport properties. This design strategy will enable the discovery of emergent quantum states and next-generation electronic materials.","PeriodicalId":19058,"journal":{"name":"Nature Materials","volume":"23 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":41.2,"publicationDate":"2025-12-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145801617","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 : 2025-12-18DOI: 10.1038/s41563-025-02412-6
Edoardo Vicentini, Xabier Arrieta, Martin Schnell, Nicolas Pajusco, Felix Begemann, Maria Barra Burillo, Maria Ramos, Andrei Bylinkin, Ruben Esteban, Javier Aizpurua, Rainer Hillenbrand
Strong and ultrastrong coupling are pivotal phenomena in science and technology, where light–matter hybridization opens new avenues for manipulating quantum states, material properties or chemical reactions. Here we use pump–probe nanospectroscopy for real-space mapping of vibrational ultrastrong coupling between optical phonons in a thin SiC layer and surface plasmon polaritons in a semiconductor (InAs) substrate. By adjusting the InAs carrier density through photoexcitation, we align the flat dispersion limit of the surface plasmon polaritons to the SiC transverse optical phonon, yielding hybridized modes in an intriguingly wide wavevector range. This flat-band ultrastrong coupling contrasts conventional ultrastrong coupling, where hybridization typically occurs in a narrow wavevector range. We further predict flat-band coupling for weak oscillators, illustrated by strong coupling of molecular vibrations with low-loss surface phonon polaritons at their dispersion limit. Achieving strong and ultrastrong coupling over a large wavevector range, and thus many hybrid modes, may benefit polariton chemistry and phase transitions induced by strong and ultrastrong coupling. Polariton interferometry reveals flat-band ultrastrong coupling between phonons and surface plasmon polaritons over a large wavevector range.
{"title":"Real-space observation of flat-band ultrastrong coupling between optical phonons and surface plasmon polaritons","authors":"Edoardo Vicentini, Xabier Arrieta, Martin Schnell, Nicolas Pajusco, Felix Begemann, Maria Barra Burillo, Maria Ramos, Andrei Bylinkin, Ruben Esteban, Javier Aizpurua, Rainer Hillenbrand","doi":"10.1038/s41563-025-02412-6","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41563-025-02412-6","url":null,"abstract":"Strong and ultrastrong coupling are pivotal phenomena in science and technology, where light–matter hybridization opens new avenues for manipulating quantum states, material properties or chemical reactions. Here we use pump–probe nanospectroscopy for real-space mapping of vibrational ultrastrong coupling between optical phonons in a thin SiC layer and surface plasmon polaritons in a semiconductor (InAs) substrate. By adjusting the InAs carrier density through photoexcitation, we align the flat dispersion limit of the surface plasmon polaritons to the SiC transverse optical phonon, yielding hybridized modes in an intriguingly wide wavevector range. This flat-band ultrastrong coupling contrasts conventional ultrastrong coupling, where hybridization typically occurs in a narrow wavevector range. We further predict flat-band coupling for weak oscillators, illustrated by strong coupling of molecular vibrations with low-loss surface phonon polaritons at their dispersion limit. Achieving strong and ultrastrong coupling over a large wavevector range, and thus many hybrid modes, may benefit polariton chemistry and phase transitions induced by strong and ultrastrong coupling. Polariton interferometry reveals flat-band ultrastrong coupling between phonons and surface plasmon polaritons over a large wavevector range.","PeriodicalId":19058,"journal":{"name":"Nature Materials","volume":"25 2","pages":"216-222"},"PeriodicalIF":38.5,"publicationDate":"2025-12-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145771050","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 : 2025-12-18DOI: 10.1038/s41563-025-02439-9
Jonas A. Sellberg
Five different crystallization pathways of high-density ice at room temperature reveal a metastable ice phase with a body-centred tetragonal structure, termed ice XXI.
高密度冰在室温下的五种不同结晶途径揭示了具有体心四方结构的亚稳冰相,称为冰XXI。
{"title":"The blackjack of ice","authors":"Jonas A. Sellberg","doi":"10.1038/s41563-025-02439-9","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41563-025-02439-9","url":null,"abstract":"Five different crystallization pathways of high-density ice at room temperature reveal a metastable ice phase with a body-centred tetragonal structure, termed ice XXI.","PeriodicalId":19058,"journal":{"name":"Nature Materials","volume":"25 2","pages":"170-171"},"PeriodicalIF":38.5,"publicationDate":"2025-12-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145771053","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 : 2025-12-17DOI: 10.1038/s41563-025-02455-9
Kalyan J. Kalita, Catharine Esterhuysen, Leonard J. Barbour
An organic crystal repairs itself, even in liquid nitrogen, by using a dipole-driven mechanism rather than relying on thermal diffusion.
即使在液氮中,有机晶体也可以通过偶极驱动机制而不是依靠热扩散来自我修复。
{"title":"Healing crystals without heat","authors":"Kalyan J. Kalita, Catharine Esterhuysen, Leonard J. Barbour","doi":"10.1038/s41563-025-02455-9","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41563-025-02455-9","url":null,"abstract":"An organic crystal repairs itself, even in liquid nitrogen, by using a dipole-driven mechanism rather than relying on thermal diffusion.","PeriodicalId":19058,"journal":{"name":"Nature Materials","volume":"25 2","pages":"168-169"},"PeriodicalIF":38.5,"publicationDate":"2025-12-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145771359","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}