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Metamaterials have recently garnered substantial research interest as they can be engineered to achieve materials properties not found in nature, thus presenting unique opportunities across various fields. In order to facilitate the rational design of metamaterials, computational methods have been widely employed, but not without numerous challenges yet to be addressed. This Focus highlights recent advancements, challenges, and opportunities in computational models for metamaterials design and manufacturing, as well as explores their potential promises in emerging information processors and computing technologies.

Researchers at Swansea University, in collaboration with Wuhan University of Technology, Shenzhen University, have developed a pioneering technique for producing large-scale graphene current collectors.

This breakthrough promises to significantly enhance the safety and performance of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), addressing a critical challenge in energy storage technology.

Published in Nature Chemical Engineering, the study details the first successful protocol for fabricating defect-free graphene foils on a commercial scale. These foils offer extraordinary thermal conductivity—up to 1,400.8 W m^–1 K^–1 —nearly ten times higher than traditional copper and aluminum current collectors used in LIBs.

Researchers with the Advanced Science Research Center at the CUNY Graduate Center (CUNY ASRC) have experimentally demonstrated that metasurfaces (two-dimensional materials structured at the nanoscale) can precisely control the optical properties of thermal radiation generated within the metasurface itself. This pioneering work, published in Nature Nanotechnology, paves the way for creating custom light sources with unprecedented capabilities, impacting a wide array of scientific and technological applications.

A new material developed by Tohoku University records and stores stress history in structures through a luminescent effect, offering an innovative solution to monitor aging infrastructure without needing power or complex equipment.

Identifying deteriorating infrastructure can be as challenging as fixing it. However, researchers at Tohoku University have made this process easier with the development of an innovative new material.

The material responds to mechanical stimuli by recording stress history through a luminescent effect called an afterglow. This information is stored for a long time, and by applying the material to the surfaces of structures, researchers can observe changes in the afterglow to determine the amount of stress the material has experienced.

A team of researchers has developed a novel computational imaging system designed to address the challenges of real-time monitoring in ultrafast laser material processing. The new system, known as Dual-Path Snapshot Compressive Microscopy (DP-SCM), represents a significant advancement in the field, offering unprecedented capabilities for high-speed, high-resolution imaging. The team was led by Yuan Xin from Westlake University and Shi Liping from Xidian University.

Materials that exhibit superconducting properties at high temperatures, known as high-temperature superconductors, have been the focus of numerous recent studies, as they can be used to develop new technologies that perform well at higher temperatures. Although high-temperature superconductivity has been widely investigated, its underlying physics is not yet fully understood.

In recent years, advances in photonics and materials science have led to remarkable developments in sensor technology, pushing the boundaries of what can be detected and measured. Among these innovations, non-Hermitian physics has emerged as a crucial area of research, offering new ways to manipulate light and enhance sensor sensitivity.

A research team has introduced a novel method for selectively tuning electronic bands in graphene. Their findings, published in Physical Review Letters, showcase the potential of artificial superlattice fields for manipulating different types of band dispersions in graphene.

Topological materials are materials that have unusual properties that arise because their wavefunction—the physical law guiding the electrons—is knotted or twisted. Where the topological material meets the surrounding space, the wavefunction must unwind. To accommodate this abrupt change, the electrons at the edge of the material must behave differently than they do in the main bulk of the material.