The versatility of peptide hydrogels: From self-assembly to drug delivery applications.

Pharmaceuticals often suffer from limitations such as low solubility, low stability, and  short half-life. To address these challenges and reduce the need for frequent drug administrations, a more efficient delivery is required. In this context, the development of controlled drug delivery systems, acting as a protective depot for the drug, has expanded significantly over the last decades.

Two-Dimensional Cobalt(II) Benzoquinone Frameworks for Putative Kitaev Quantum Spin Liquid Candidates.

The realization and discovery of quantum spin liquid (QSL) candidate materials are crucial for exploring exotic quantum phenomena and applications associated with QSLs. Most existing metal-organic two-dimensional (2D) quantum spin liquid candidates have structures with spins arranged on the triangular or kagome lattices, whereas honeycomb-structured metal-organic compounds with QSL characteristics are rare. Here, we report the use of 2,5-dihydroxy-1,4-benzoquinone (Xdhbq, X = Cl, Br, H) as the linkers to construct cobalt(II) honeycomb lattices (NEt)[Co(Xdhbq)] as promising Kitaev-type QSL candidate materials.

KMgBi: A Narrow Band Gap Semiconductor with a Channel Structure.

The creation of new families of intermetallic or Zintl-phase compounds with high-spin orbit elements has attracted a considerable amount of interest due to the presence of unique electronic, magnetic, and topological phenomena in these materials. Here, we establish the synthesis and structural and electronic characterization of KMgBi single crystals having a new structure type. KMgBi crystallizes in space group having unit cell parameters = 4.

Extraordinary Thermoelectric Properties of Topological Surface States in Quantum-Confined CdAs Thin Films.

Topological insulators and semimetals have been shown to possess intriguing thermoelectric properties promising for energy harvesting and cooling applications. However, thermoelectric transport associated with the Fermi arc topological surface states on topological Dirac semimetals remains less explored. This work systematically examines thermoelectric transport in a series of topological Dirac semimetal CdAs thin films grown by molecular beam epitaxy.

Recent progress on topological semimetal IrO: electronic structures, synthesis, and transport properties.

5transition metal oxides, such as iridates, have attracted significant interest in condensed matter physics throughout the past decade owing to their fascinating physical properties that arise from intrinsically strong spin-orbit coupling (SOC) and its interplay with other interactions of comparable energy scales. Among the rich family of iridates, iridium dioxide (IrO), a simple binary compound long known as a promising catalyst for water splitting, has recently been demonstrated to possess novel topological states and exotic transport properties. The strong SOC and the nonsymmorphic symmetry that IrOpossesses introduce symmetry-protected Dirac nodal lines (DNLs) within its band structure as well as a large spin Hall effect in the transport.