A new class of high-performance and multifunctional zwitterionic hydrogels were designed based on the incorporation of polydopamine-coated liquid metal nanoparticles into poly(sulfobetaine methacrylate) zwitterionic hydrogels.

Self-assembled growth of SrTiFeO (STF)/ZnO vertical nanocomposite films by combinatorial pulsed laser deposition is described. The nanocomposite films form vertically aligned columnar epitaxial nanostructures on SrTiO substrates, in which the STF shows room-temperature magnetism. The magnetic properties are discussed in terms of strain states, oxygen vacancies, and microstructures. The nanocomposites exhibit magneto-photoluminescent coupling behavior that the near-band-edge emission of ZnO is shifted as a function of magnetic field.

The thermal conductivity of self-assembled nanocomposite oxide films consisting of cobalt ferrite (CFO) spinel pillars grown within a single-crystal bismuth ferrite (BFO) perovskite matrix is described as a function of the volume fraction of the spinel. Single phase BFO and CFO had crossplane thermal conductivities of 1.32 W m À1 K À1 and 3.94 W m À1 K À1 , respectively, and the thermal conductivity of the nanocomposites increased with the CFO volume fraction within this range. A small increase ($5%) in thermal conductivity for the pure CFO phase in the AC-demagnetized state was observed, suggesting possible magnon contributions. Steady state gray-medium based variance-reduced Monte Carlo simulations show consistent trends with experimental data on the dependence of thermal conductivity with the CFO volume fraction.