Ultrahigh-gain colloidal quantum dot infrared avalanche photodetectors.

Colloidal quantum dots (CQDs) are promising for infrared photodetectors with high detectivity and low-cost production. Although CQDs enable photoinduced charge multiplication, thermal noise in low-bandgap materials limits their performance in IR detectors. Here we present a pioneering architecture of a CQD-based infrared photodetector that uses kinetically pumped avalanche multiplication.

Advanced characterization of confined electrochemical interfaces in electrochemical capacitors.

The advancement of high-performance fast-charging materials has significantly propelled progress in electrochemical capacitors (ECs). Electrochemical capacitors store charges at the nanoscale electrode material-electrolyte interface, where the charge storage and transport mechanisms are mediated by factors such as nanoconfinement, local electrode structure, surface properties and non-electrostatic ion-electrode interactions. This Review offers a comprehensive exploration of probing the confined electrochemical interface using advanced characterization techniques.

Atomically intimate assembly of dual metal-oxide interfaces for tandem conversion of syngas to ethanol.

Selective conversion of syngas to value-added higher alcohols (containing two or more carbon atoms), particularly to a specific alcohol, is of great interest but remains challenging. Here we show that atomically intimate assembly of FeO-Rh-ZrO dual interfaces by selectively architecting highly dispersed FeO on ultrafine raft-like Rh clusters supported on tetragonal zirconia enables highly efficient tandem conversion of syngas to ethanol. The ethanol selectivity in oxygenates reached ~90% at CO conversion up to 51%, along with a markedly high space-time yield of ethanol of 668.

Superionic conducting vacancy-rich β-LiN electrolyte for stable cycling of all-solid-state lithium metal batteries.

The advancement of all-solid-state lithium metal batteries requires breakthroughs in solid-state electrolytes (SSEs) for the suppression of lithium dendrite growth at high current densities and high capacities (>3 mAh cm) and innovation of SSEs in terms of crystal structure, ionic conductivity and rigidness. Here we report a superionic conducting, highly lithium-compatible and air-stable vacancy-rich β-LiN SSE. This vacancy-rich β-LiN SSE shows a high ionic conductivity of 2.

A cascade X-ray energy converting approach toward radio-afterglow cancer theranostics.

Leveraging X-rays to initiate prolonged luminescence (radio-afterglow) and stimulate radiodynamic O production from optical agents provides opportunities for diagnosis and therapy at tissue depths inaccessible to light. However, X-ray-responsive organic luminescent materials are rare due to their intrinsic low X-ray conversion efficiency. Here we report a cascade X-ray energy converting approach to develop organic radio-afterglow nanoprobes (RANPs) for cancer theranostics.

Fully integrated multi-mode optoelectronic memristor array for diversified in-sensor computing.

In-sensor computing, which integrates sensing, memory and processing functions, has shown substantial potential in artificial vision systems. However, large-scale monolithic integration of in-sensor computing based on emerging devices with complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) circuits remains challenging, lacking functional demonstrations at the hardware level. Here we report a fully integrated 1-kb array with 128 × 8 one-transistor one-optoelectronic memristor (OEM) cells and silicon CMOS circuits, which features configurable multi-mode functionality encompassing three different modes of electronic memristor, dynamic OEM and non-volatile OEM (NV-OEM).

Full on-device manipulation of olefin metathesis for precise manufacturing.

Olefin metathesis, as a powerful metal-catalysed carbon-carbon bond-forming method, has achieved considerable progress in recent years. However, the complexity originating from multicomponent interactions has long impeded a complete mechanistic understanding of olefin metathesis, which hampers further optimization of the reaction. Here, we clarify both productive and hidden degenerate pathways of ring-closing metathesis by focusing on one individual catalyst, using a sensitive single-molecule electrical detection platform.

Engineering modular and tunable single-molecule sensors by decoupling sensing from signal output.

Biosensors play key roles in medical research and diagnostics. However, the development of biosensors for new biomolecular targets of interest often involves tedious optimization steps to ensure a high signal response at the analyte concentration of interest. Here we show a modular nanosensor platform that facilitates these steps by offering ways to decouple and independently tune the signal output as well as the response window.

Blue lasers using low-toxicity colloidal quantum dots.

Blue lasers play a pivotal role in laser-based display, printing, manufacturing, data recording and medical technologies. Colloidal quantum dots (QDs) are solution-grown materials with strong, tunable emission covering the whole visible spectrum, but the development of QD lasers has largely relied on Cd-containing red-emitting QDs, with technologically viable blue QD lasers remaining out of reach. Here we report on the realization of tunable and robust lasing using low-toxicity blue-emitting ZnSe-ZnS core-shell QDs that are compact in size yet still feature suppressed Auger recombination and long optical gain lifetime approaching 1 ns.

Universal control of four singlet-triplet qubits.

The coherent control of interacting spins in semiconductor quantum dots is of strong interest for quantum information processing and for studying quantum magnetism from the bottom up. Here we present a 2 × 4 germanium quantum dot array with full and controllable interactions between nearest-neighbour spins. As a demonstration of the level of control, we define four singlet-triplet qubits in this system and show two-axis single-qubit control of each qubit and SWAP-style two-qubit gates between all neighbouring qubit pairs, yielding average single-qubit gate fidelities of 99.

Self-cleaning electrode for stable synthesis of alkaline-earth metal peroxides.

Alkaline-earth metal peroxides (MO, M = Ca, Sr, Ba) represent a category of versatile and clean solid oxidizers, while the synthesis process usually consumes excessive hydrogen peroxide (HO). Here we discover that HO synthesized via two-electron electrochemical oxygen reduction (2e ORR) on the electrode surface can be efficiently and durably consumed to produce high-purity MO in an alkaline environment. The crucial factor lies in the in-time detachment of in situ-generated MO from the self-cleaning electrode, where the solid products spontaneously detach from the electrode to solve the block issue.

Targeted protein degradation via cellular trafficking of nanoparticles.

Strategies that selectively bind proteins of interest and target them to the intracellular protein recycling machinery for targeted protein degradation have recently emerged as powerful tools for undruggable targets in biomedical research and the pharmaceutical industry. However, targeting any new protein of interest with current degradation tools requires a laborious case-by-case design for different diseases and cell types, especially for extracellular targets. Here we observe that nanoparticles can mediate specific receptor-independent internalization of a bound protein and further develop a general strategy for degradation of extracellular proteins of interest by making full use of clinically approved components.