Themed collection Flexible nanomaterials: microscopic mechanisms and macroscopic applications

Yuan Cheng, Zibiao Li, Junfeng Gao, Hai-Dong Yu and Gang Zhang introduce this themed collection on flexible nanomaterials.

Herein, the latest development of XB as a flexible linkage to fabricate functional nanomaterials in liquid and solution phases will be discussed, taking readers through the concept and features of XB to explore its functionalities and applications.

This mini-review summarizes the publications within the last 3 years on microscopically tuning the interlayer spacing, lateral size and functional group to improve the properties and separation performance of graphene oxide membranes.

With the fast development of industry, large amounts of organic and inorganic pollutants are inevitably released into the natural environment, which results in the pollution of the environment and are thereby dangerous to human health.

Recent advances in growing scaled 2D single-crystal monolayer films by the chemical vapor deposition method are comprehensively presented.

The eye is a complex structure with a variety of anatomical barriers and clearance mechanisms, so the provision of safe and effective ophthalmic drug delivery technology is a major challenge.

A highly stable iron arsenide monolayer material is predicted to exhibit ferroelasticity and magnetism simultaneously.

We advocate triplet–triplet annihilation upconverters as candidates for blue FuLEDs (OLEDs enhanced by triplet-fusion), demonstrating here with the sky-blue DPBF. Its TTA or triplet-fusion behaviour is explored in both solutions and FuLED devices.

This work demonstrates introducing noble metal nanodots with suitable surface ligands in gas sensing materials is an effective way to improve their performance, and noble metal/metal oxide/rGO composites have potentials in flexible gas sensing.

Reactive linear POSS hybrid modifiers with excellent toughness effect towards epoxy resins.

The FeSi₂ monolayer is a room-temperature ferromagnet (T_C ∼360 K) with planar hexacoordinate Fe atoms, and can be grown directly on a Si (110) substrate.

Seeking novel high performance anode materials for sodium ion batteries (SIBs) is an attractive theme in developing energy storage devices.

A new type of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) based TENG which can work stably in a high humidity environment with high output performance is fabricated. The electrical output of this TENG increases with the increase of environmental humidity.

Versatile applications have been proposed for phosphorene nanoribbons (PNRs), whose properties depend strongly on the edge structures.