Scientific publications

Lithium is a critical resource for high-energy batteries and emerging energy storage technologies. Conventional extraction methods, such as solar evaporation of brines, are energy-intensive and environmentally harmful, highlighting the need for sustainable alternatives. Here, we present an electrochemical strategy for selective lithium recovery using a hybrid intercalation-based electrochemical cell that exploits the unique properties of lithium manganese oxide (LMO). Unlike traditional carbon-based electrodes, LMO features a spinel crystal structure that enables reversible Li+ intercalation under controlled potentials, providing intrinsic ion selectivity. To improve durability and performance, the LMO electrode was functionalized with the anionic polyelectrolyte poly(sodium 4-styrenesulfonate) (PSS). At the same time, the activated carbon counter-electrode was coated with the cationic polyelectrolyte poly(diallyldimethylammonium chloride) (PDADMAC). Experiments in single-salt (LiCl) and mixed-salt (LiCl + NaCl) systems, including highly asymmetric brines, reveal that Li+ uptake strongly depends on the applied cell voltage, reaching values above 40 mg g−1 at 1.2 V. The PSS coating is expected to mitigate Mn dissolution and alters desorption dynamics, favoring Na+ release while maintaining Li+ selectivity. These results demonstrate the potential of LMO-based hybrid electrodes for energy-efficient lithium recovery from complex saline environments.

Electro-enhanced adsorption and desorption (electrosorption) is emerging as a versatile route to remove and concentrate trace organic contaminants, including PFAS and pharmaceuticals, by coupling conductive adsorbents with electrical control. Many systems borrow process concepts from capacitive deionization (CDI), yet at environmentally relevant influent levels, they operate in a low-loading regime where affinity, competition, and transport dominate rather than charge-storage-limited salt/ion uptake. The electrical step also enables controlled release (electrodesorption) for regeneration, recovery, and enrichment, supporting capture-concentrate operation. This Making Waves article proposes a mechanism-consistent vocabulary and a compact reporting framework that links treatment goals to key metrics: affinity- and process-relevant descriptors (adsorption coefficient, selectivity, breakthrough/retardation, recovery, and enrichment) when electrosorption of trace organic compounds is the goal. Clear terminology and reporting will improve comparability across studies and accelerate rational design of electrosorption technologies tailored to trace organic pollutants.

Enterococcus faecalis is a commensal bacterium in the human gut, but it can also cause life-threatening diseases, especially serious hospital-acquired infections. Bacteria release particles called extracellular vesicles (EVs), which help them interact and communicate with other cells, including bacteria and human cells. However, it is unclear how EVs produced by E. faecalis (Ef-EVs) affect the host immune system. In this study, we investigated how Ef-EVs affect immune and endothelial cells. We found that Ef-EVs activate inflammatory responses through a receptor on the cell surface, without the need to be taken up by the cells. In addition, Ef-EVs altered the metabolism of immune cells, shifting them towards a state that supports inflammation. These findings highlight a previously underexplored mechanism by which Gram-positive bacterial EVs can shape host immunity and cellular metabolism, thereby advancing our understanding of host-pathogen interactions.

In engineered living materials (ELMs) made of genetically engineered bacteria embedded in polymeric matrices, it is desirable for the bacteria to remain contained for biosafety and reliable performance. Such ELMs are being explored for a variety of applications, including smart drug delivery, in which the material also needs to allow protein release. Achieving this balance requires materials that simultaneously support cell viability, prevent bacterial escape, and permit controlled molecular diffusion. Here, we systematically dissect how alginate cross-linking chemistry, buffer composition, and secondary network reinforcement shape the performance of core–shell beads encapsulating Escherichia coli Nissle 1917 engineered to secrete a model protein. We identify a 4 h Ca2+ cross-linking window as the upper limit that maintains robust core viability and week-long confinement. For improved confinement, additional cross-linking strategies, including glutaraldehyde, polyethylenimine, and tannic acid, were tested and found to enhance the shell’s barrier properties to prevent leakage for up to 15 days but also negatively impacted protein release. Finally, replacing Ca2+ with Ba2+ as the cross-linking divalent cation yields the most effective solution, producing beads with exceptional long-term bacterial confinement capability (>20 days) while allowing for comparable protein secretion levels to Ca2+ controls. Together, these results establish a a materials-centric design framework for fabricating alginate-based ELMs that achieve durable confinement without compromising functional protein output and highlight barium-alginate shells as a promising platform for fabricating ELMs toward therapeutic applications.

The agglomeration of apolar metallic nanoparticles (NPs) brings them within nanometer distances, enabling nonradiative coupling through electron conduction tunneling and plasmonic interactions. Even stronger coupling can be achieved with metallic connections between the particles. Thermally induced coarsening is often used to join particles in this way, but typically requires high temperatures. For example, the thermal coarsening of thiol-coated NPs in apolar dispersions requires heating above 120 °C to induce ligand desorption. This leads to side reactions, notably Ostwald Ripening and the formation of small particles. Here, we introduce a new method for controlled NP coarsening in apolar dispersions at near-ambient conditions. Small amounts of reactive chemical additives are added to the dispersion and thermally activated. Transmission electron microscopy and small-angle X-ray scattering reveal that adding the cyclic sulfide additive molecule tetrahydrothiophene (R5S) to a dispersion of hexadecanethiol (HDT)-coated gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) induces aggregation at temperatures as low as 40 to 60 °C. The cores form metallic joints, forming larger continuous gold bodies. An Arrhenius analysis of the temperature-dependent aggregation kinetics identifies the exchange of HDT to R5S on the gold surfaces as the rate-limiting step. Small-angle neutron scattering and thermogravimetry confirm the mechanism and indicate that ∼80% of HDT is replaced by R5S after 5 h at 50 °C. Progressive ligand exchange reduces the steric repulsion by the shells until aggregation sets in. A comparison with the larger cyclic sulfide thionane and the cyclic amine pyrrolidine, which do not induce coarsening, shows that the prerequisite for ligand desorption at moderate temperatures to enable AuNP coarsening is a small size and strong affinity of the additives to the gold surfaces.

Stress granules (SGs) are biomolecular condensates that form transiently in the cytosol of mammalian cells in response to stress. Dysregulation of their assembly or disassembly is implicated in human age-related diseases. While phase separation is the key process underlying SG assembly, understanding of their function, composition and regulation in response to physiological stimuli is limited. This knowledge gap reflects the challenge of gaining comprehensive and quantitative insights into the dynamic regulation of the complex composition of SGs at the single-cell level. Here we present an emulsion-based microfluidics method to overcome this limitation. “Cytosolic extracts-in-oil droplets” (CEODs) recreate a confined active cytosolic milieu that undergoes phase separation and SG formation in response to stress under physiological conditions. This approach led to the discovery of seven previously unrecognised SG components involved in signalling pathways. CEODs provide a versatile and cost-effective screening platform for future mechanistic and therapeutic studies.

Engineering cells to fabricate and program bio-based materials presents a sustainable alternative to petroleum-derived composites while simultaneously enabling the integration of advanced functionality. This is particularly relevant for engineered wood composites, which are widely used in construction, yet rely on petrol-based, non-biodegradable binders. Here, we develop bio-programmed wood composites using engineered bacteria, addressing both functional enhancement and sustainability. To navigate the large design space linking genetic programs, material composition, and processing conditions to mechanical performance, we combine lab automation with a pretrained transformer model for in-context prediction. This approach enables rapid identification of formulations yielding desired mechanical properties. Beyond mechanical properties, we introduce programmable features such as optogenetically patterned in situ pigmentation, local porosity control, and autonomous damage reporting. We demonstrate the applicability of our approach through manufacturing macro-scale furniture prototypes. Our platform establishes a blueprint for the accelerated, AI-driven development of sustainable, living multifunctional materials with applications in construction and beyond.

Nanodiamonds hosting colour centres are promising building blocks for quantum technologies, enabling advances in quantum computation1,2, nanoscale NMR spectroscopy3,4,5,6, single-spin magnetometry7,8, wide-field quantum imaging9 and single-photon sources10,11. However, the controlled bottom-up synthesis of ultrasmall and structurally uniform nanodiamonds has remained a challenge, with existing methods producing heterogeneous materials that vary in size, morphology, impurity content and defect quality. Here we show that well-defined, hydrogen-terminated molecular nanographenes serve as chemically confined precursors for high-pressure, high-temperature synthesis of ultrasmall (3–4 nm), monodisperse and highly crystalline molecular nanodiamonds with only a single sp2 surface reconstruction and produced on a milligram scale. The same bottom-up platform also enables a two-component strategy for incorporating silicon- and germanium-based colour centres during synthesis, yielding SiV− and GeV− emitters without ion implantation, irradiation or post-treatment. Because the nanographene precursor defines both the confined carbon framework and the hydrogen content, this approach provides intrinsic, precursor-level control over nanodiamond size and composition, particularly in the low-nanometre regime relevant for biological and quantum sensing. Molecular nanographenes, ultralarge polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, therefore, establish a scalable and modular route to high-quality molecular and fluorescent nanodiamonds and offer a general design principle for tailored quantum materials and nanoscale devices.

Engineered living materials (ELMs) promise genetically programmable functions by coupling biological regulation to synthetic material responses. Here, we introduce a strategy for genetically driven bidirectional shape-morphing in a peptide-crosslinked polyethylene glycol (PEG) hydrogel whose network density is modulated by opposing genetically encoded enzyme pairs that induce crosslinking or hydrolysis. These molecular transformations switch the hydrogel between deswelling, swelling, or partial disintegration, producing two- to five-fold changes in mechanical properties. By fabricating a bilayer hydrogel composed of a responsive layer and a passive counterlayer, these network-level modulations are translated into directional actuation with bending angles exceeding 80° and shape recovery. We further show that genetically engineered bacteria and mammalian cells can function as programmable enzyme sources, thereby coupling genetic programs to hydrogel network remodeling and material deformation. Using opposing out-of-equilibrium biochemical reactions with dynamically changing relative reaction rates, we demonstrate hybrid-enzymatic genetic control over bending and autonomous shape recovery in bilayer hydrogels. This work establishes a customizable framework for genetically directed mechanical actuation in ELMs, in which living cells regulate macroscopic shapes through programmed network remodeling. More broadly, it provides proof-of-concept for genetically programmed shape-morphing of ELMs and opens opportunities for future biohybrid actuators, adaptive material systems, and dynamic biomedical interfaces.

Accurate reconstruction of the conductive networks in lithium-ion battery electrodes is essential for understanding material-structure-property relationships and optimizing manufacturing processes. The resolution of these networks remains a challenge due to the average size of the microstructure features and lack of contrast to the other materials generally present. Here, a digital materials framework for the three-dimensional reconstruction and quantitative analysis of lithium-ion battery cathode microstructure using focused ion beam–scanning electron microscopy (FIB–SEM) tomography with segmentation by machine learning is introduced. Low acceleration voltage image stacks are recorded and compared to identify the optimal voltage. Manual segmentation aided with standard software provides a ground truth that is used to train a deep neural network model to identify the phases of a cathode material. The model is applied for robust identification and reconstruction of conductive phases. Quantified microstructural descriptors are extracted from the automatic segmentation and systematically linked to structured processing parameters within a digital platform, DataCharge.io, enabling consistent comparison across lab- and pilot-scale electrodes. This integrated data-driven approach facilitates targeted optimization of electrode fabrication, supports transferable process–structure correlations, and advances digitalization strategies for battery materials engineering.