RuO 2 catalysts exhibit record activities towards the oxygen evolution reaction (OER), which is crucial to enable efficient and sustainable energy storage. Here we examine the RuO 2 OER kinetics on rutile (110), (100), (101), and (111) orientations, finding (100) the most active. We assess the potential involvement of lattice oxygen in the OER mechanism with online

Minimal domains for maximum energy Dielectric capacitors are important electronic components that can store energy, at least for a short period of time. Pan et al . used phase-field simulations to help determine the right combination of bismuth iron oxide, barium titanium oxide, and samarium doping that is likely to generate a material with excellent dielectric properties (see the Perspective by Chu). The simulations guide a set of experimental measurements showing this system can produce a very high-energy storage by breaking down polar domains to the nanometer scale. These materials could be useful for high-power applications and to suppress failure. —BG

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Two-dimensional (2D) magnets with intrinsic ferromagnetic/antiferromagnetic (FM/AFM) ordering are highly desirable for future spintronic devices. However, the direct growth of their crystals is in its infancy. Here we report a chemical vapor deposition approach to controllably grow layered tetragonal and non-layered hexagonal FeTe nanoplates with their thicknesses down to 3.6 and 2.8 nm, respectively. Moreover, transport measurements reveal these obtained FeTe nanoflakes show a thickness-dependent magnetic transition. Antiferromagnetic tetragonal FeTe with the Néel temperature ( T N ) gradually decreases from 70 to 45 K as the thickness declines from 32 to 5 nm. And ferromagnetic hexagonal FeTe is accompanied by a drop of the Curie temperature ( T C ) from 220 K (30 nm) to 170 K (4 nm). Theoretical calculations indicate that the ferromagnetic order in hexagonal FeTe is originated from its concomitant lattice distortion and Stoner instability. This study highlights its potential applications in future spintronic devices.

Oxide heterostructures often exhibit unusual physical properties that are absent in the constituent bulk materials. Here, we report an atomically sharp transition to a ferromagnetic phase when polar antiferromagnetic LaMnO3 (001) films are grown on SrTiO3 substrates. For a thickness of six unit cells or more, the LaMnO3 film abruptly becomes ferromagnetic over its entire area, which is visualized by scanning superconducting quantum interference device microscopy. The transition is explained in terms of electronic reconstruction originating from the polar nature of the LaMnO3 (001) films. Our results demonstrate that functionalities can be engineered in oxide films that are only a few atomic layers thick.