Oxide glasses are an integral part of the modern world, but their usefulness can be limited by their characteristic brittleness at room temperature. We show that amorphous aluminum oxide can permanently deform without fracture at room temperature and high strain rate by a viscous creep mechanism. These thin-films can reach flow stress at room temperature and can flow plastically up to a total elongation of 100%, provided that the material is dense and free of geometrical flaws. Our study demonstrates a much higher ductility for an amorphous oxide at low temperature than previous observations. This discovery may facilitate the realization of damage-tolerant glass materials that contribute in new ways, with the potential to improve the mechanical resistance and reliability of applications such as electronic devices and batteries.

Tellurium (Te)-doping of self-catalyzed GaAs nanowires (NWs) grown by molecular beam epitaxy is reported. The effect of Te-doping on the morphological and crystal structure of the NWs is investigated by scanning electron microscopy and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy. The study reveals that the lateral growth rate increases and axial growth rate decreases with increasing Te doping level. The changes in the NW morphology can be reverted to some extent by changing the growth temperature. At high doping levels, formation of twinning superlattice is observed alongside with the {111}-facetted sidewalls. Finally, the incorporation of Te is confirmed by Raman spectroscopy. V

Molecular self-assembly of block copolymers has been pursued as a next generation high-resolution, low-cost lithography technique. Solvent vapor annealing is a promising way of achieving self-assembled patterns from polymers with high interaction parameters, w, or high molecular weights. Compared to thermal annealing, the assembly in a solvated state can be much faster, but the film swelling process is typically challenging to control and reproduce. We report the design and implementation of an automated solvent annealing system that addresses these issues. In this system the film swelling is controlled via local heating or cooling, which enables exceptionally fast and precise modulation of the swelling. The swelling of the polymer films follows preprogrammed annealing profiles with the help of a feedback loop that compares and tunes the film thickness with respect to the set point. The system therefore enables complex annealing profiles such as rapid cyclic swelling and deswelling. We show that the orientation of the pattern morphology and the amount of lattice defects are influenced by the used annealing profile. We demonstrate that optimized profiles significantly shorten the annealing time (o15 min) of high-w and high-molecular weight poly(styrene-b-2-vinylpyridine).

Halogen bonding (XB), a non-covalent interaction between an electron-deficient halogen atom and a Lewis base, is widely adopted in organic synthesis and supramolecular crystal engineering. However, the roadmap towards materials applications is hindered by the challenges in harnessing this relatively weak intermolecular interaction to devise human-commanded stimuli-responsive soft materials. Here, we report a liquid crystalline network comprising permanent covalent crosslinks and dynamic halogen bond crosslinks, which possess reversible thermo-responsive shape memory behaviour. Our findings suggest that I···N halogen bond, a paradigmatic motif in crystal engineering studies, enables temporary shape fixation at room temperature and subsequent shape recovery in response to human body temperature. We demonstrate versatile shape programming of the halogen-bonded polymer networks through human-hand operation and propose a micro-robotic injection model for complex 1D to 3D shape morphing in aqueous media at 37 °C. Through systematic structure-property-performance studies, we show the necessity of the I···N crosslinks in driving the shape memory effect. The halogen-bonded shape memory polymers expand the toolbox for the preparation of smart supramolecular constructs with tailored mechanical properties and thermoresponsive behaviour, for the needs of, e.g., future medical devices.

Circulating nucleic acids,s uch as short interfering RNA( siRNA), regulate many biological processes;h owever, the mechanism by whichthese molecules enter the cell is poorly understood. The role of extracellular-matrix-derived polymers in binding siRNAs and trafficking them across the plasma membrane is reported. Thermal melting, dynamic light scattering, scanning electron microscopy, and computational analysis indicate that hyaluronic acid can stabilizesiRNAvia hydrogen bonding and Vand er Waals interactions.T his stabilization facilitated HA size-and concentration-dependent gene silencing in aCD44-positive human osteosarcoma cell line (MG-63) and in human mesenchymal stromal cells (hMSCs). This native HA-based siRNAtransfection represents the first report on an anionic,n on-viral delivery method that resulted in approximately 60 %gene knockdowninboth cell types tested, which correlated with ar eduction in translation levels.