This Review discusses recent advances in afterglow materials for biomedical applications, the distinct imaging modalities that these agents enable and strategies to optimize their properties for improved disease diagnosis and therapies.

By doping ice with NaCl, it is shown that a flexoelectric coefficient of up to 10 μC m⁻¹ is generated, enabling effective piezoelectric coefficients that are comparable to those of ceramics. This arises from the streaming current of quasi-liquid flow through grain boundaries from one side of the sample to the other.

The authors demonstrate deeply subwavelength light confinement in the terahertz spectral range by exploiting the strong light–matter coupling and hyperbolicity of phonon polaritons in hafnium-based dichalcogenides.

An electron ptychography and energy-loss spectroscopy study of La₂PrNi₂O₇, a material that exhibits high-temperature superconductivity, is conducted.

The authors identify two coexisting incommensurate charge density waves whose interplay leads to joint commensuration and a long-period moiré structure.

Resistance drift, also known as the temporal change in electrical resistance, hampers the application of phase-change materials for neuromorphic computing. Here an amorphous CrTe₃ thin film with no resistance drift in the working temperature from −200 °C to 165 °C is reported.

Homojunction intermolecular charge separation is reported in photoexcited anion–cation pairs induced by external electric field bias, opening possibilities for light harvesting using molecular semiconductors.

The authors develop a molecular dopant to avoid the dimerization of the electron-selective material phenyl-C₆₁-butyric acid methyl ester, resulting in enhanced stability and efficiency in inverted perovskite solar cells.

Spherical polar topological structures are of interest as they could enable high-density memory applications; however, such texture formation requires superlattices with delicately balanced boundary conditions to form. Here it is found that these textures can form in free-standing CuInP₂S₆, and that mechanical force can generate high-density domains.

Advances have been made in thin-film piezoelectrics; however, the linearity of electric-field-induced strain with frequency and temperature still requires improvement. Here, by growing interlocked monoclinic and tetragonal polar nanoregions in (K,Na)NbO₃ thin films, highly linear strains of up to 1.1% are reported at frequencies up to 10⁵ Hz.

Our knowledge of deformation behaviour in functional materials is pushing the frontiers of mechanics, informing design strategies and enabling scalable manufacturing.

Pioneer of high-pressure physics and superconductivity.

In this issue we present three papers on the topological properties or structure of ferroelectrics, which are interlinked.

Seven years on from updates to our data sharing policies, we reflect on data-deposition-related changes to our published papers and continue to strongly encourage authors to make source data openly available.

The Hall effect has been a powerful probe of the physics of materials for more than a century.

Identification of amorphous phases in nanoparticles by atomic-resolution transmission electron microscopy (TEM) requires analyses such as tilt-angle-dependent TEM imaging and single-nanoparticle electron diffraction, rather than relying on a single TEM image.