Nature Reviews Materials, Published online: 27 January 2026; doi:10.1038/s41578-026-00891-wTwo-dimensional materials were once celebrated mainly for spectacular single-device demonstrations, but advances over the past decade have revealed that geometry, manufacturability and surface chemistry are equally decisive. Recognizing how structure, synthesis and interfaces work together is now reshaping two-dimensional materials engineering and opening new routes to scalable, reliable and application-ready systems.

Nature Reviews Materials, Published online: 27 January 2026; doi:10.1038/s41578-025-00857-4Sodium-ion batteries are promising low-cost alternatives to lithium-ion systems yet limited by underperforming anodes. This Review highlights advances and challenges in hard carbon and alloy-based anodes, outlining design strategies to boost capacity, stability and commercial viability of next-generation high-energy sodium-ion batteries.

Nature Reviews Materials, Published online: 26 January 2026; doi:10.1038/s41578-025-00880-5Graphene nanoribbons synthesized via bottom–up methods show great promise for nanoelectronics and quantum technologies. This Review highlights their synthesis, properties and device geometries, showcasing quantum transport phenomena and outlining challenges for future technologies.

Nature Reviews Materials, Published online: 23 January 2026; doi:10.1038/s41578-026-00892-9An article in Nature Electronics describes a method for wrapping electronics smoothly onto complex 3D surfaces.

Nature Reviews Materials, Published online: 20 January 2026; doi:10.1038/s41578-026-00890-xRecycling rarely fails for simple reasons. New York City’s system is a case study in the dynamics and compromises that shape urban recycling, and why cities cannot optimize everything at once.

Nature Reviews Materials, Published online: 19 January 2026; doi:10.1038/s41578-025-00879-yPoint defects critically influence material properties and require accurate computational modelling for reliable predictions. This Perspective outlines best practices for defect simulations using supercell approaches, emphasizing methodological transparency, reproducibility and robust reporting to improve consistency and integration with experimental studies.

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Nature Reviews Materials, Published online: 16 January 2026; doi:10.1038/s41578-025-00887-yHigh-entropy alloys were once thought to owe their exceptional properties to complete chemical disorder, but advances over the past decade revealed that subtle forms of atomic order are widespread and often essential. Recognizing how order and disorder work together is now reshaping alloy design and opening new routes to stronger, tougher and more reliable materials.

Nature Reviews Materials, Published online: 15 January 2026; doi:10.1038/s41578-025-00877-0Haptic interfaces are shifting from rigid systems to deformable, skin-conforming formats enabled by advances in materials and structural design. This Review discusses progress in flexible haptic technologies, introduces performance metrics and outlines challenges for next-generation tactile feedback systems.

Nature Reviews Materials, Published online: 14 January 2026; doi:10.1038/s41578-025-00885-0High-entropy bioceramics, which incorporate many elements in near-equimolar ratios, could enable patient-specific implants with customized mechanical, biological and therapeutic properties. Combined with additive manufacturing and artificial intelligence approaches, high-entropy bioceramics hold promise for a new generation of personalized bone substitutes that could redefine regenerative medicine.

Nature Reviews Materials, Published online: 12 January 2026; doi:10.1038/s41578-025-00888-xAn article in Nature Communications reports a synthesis that can grow out-of-plane conductive 2D covalent organic framework films directly on substrates, thanks to an induced Marangoni effect.

Nature Reviews Materials, Published online: 09 January 2026; doi:10.1038/s41578-025-00881-4As Nature Reviews Materials turns 10, we look back on a decade of achievements and explore how the landscape of materials science has transformed.

Nature Reviews Materials, Published online: 08 January 2026; doi:10.1038/s41578-025-00874-3Nanoprinting is a powerful fabrication strategy for scalable, high-resolution optical metasurfaces made from a diverse range of materials. This Review surveys recent advances in printing precision, throughput and reconfigurable materials, highlighting the promise of nanoprinting for next-generation flat-optics manufacturing and advanced photonic systems.

Nature Reviews Materials, Published online: 07 January 2026; doi:10.1038/s41578-025-00878-zCatalytic deconstruction offers a route from waste plastics to monomers and oligomers that can be repolymerized into new plastics. Zeolite catalysts engineered with extra-large pores, hierarchical pore networks or nanoscale dimensions can help to address the diffusion limitations of conventional microscale zeolites in plastic upcycling — an important step towards a more circular plastic economy.

Nature Reviews Materials, Published online: 05 January 2026; doi:10.1038/s41578-025-00875-2Electrochemical CO2 and CO reduction to multicarbon products is a promising low-carbon pathway, but industrial deployment requires catalyst and electrode manufacturing far beyond laboratory scales. This Perspective evaluates scalable catalyst–electrode integration and outlines a workflow from nanoparticle synthesis to roll-to-roll coating for gigawatt-scale electrolysis.

Nature Reviews Materials, Published online: 22 December 2025; doi:10.1038/s41578-025-00883-2An article in Science Advances demonstrates a high-entropy design strategy that stabilizes multiphase polar nanoregions in perovskite oxides, making them low-frequency microwave absorbers.

Nature Reviews Materials, Published online: 22 December 2025; doi:10.1038/s41578-025-00884-1An article in Journal of the American Chemical Society demonstrates that engineered disorder enables ultrafast magnetization control in structural highentropy FePt nanoparticles.

Nature Reviews Materials, Published online: 19 December 2025; doi:10.1038/s41578-025-00882-3An article in Advanced Materials introduces an efficient metabolic detection platform based on mesoporous high-entropy oxides that improves MALDI–MS sensitivity to small-molecule metabolites.

Nature Reviews Materials, Published online: 19 December 2025; doi:10.1038/s41578-025-00876-1The shift from fossil fuels to sustainable energy sources requires the development of efficient systems for long-term energy storage and global distribution. Iron powder is a highly promising zero-carbon energy carrier that can store large amounts of energy and can be transported efficiently over long distances.

Nature Reviews Materials, Published online: 15 December 2025; doi:10.1038/s41578-025-00873-4Organic solar batteries integrate light harvesting and energy storage in a single device and, particularly when based on porous organic materials, enable efficient solar-to-electrochemical energy storage. However, despite promising advances in materials and device engineering, challenges in charge dynamics and scalability remain, requiring further research and optimization to realize their full potential.

Nature Reviews Materials, Published online: 15 December 2025; doi:10.1038/s41578-025-00860-9Broken and tailored symmetries have a fundamental role in wave phenomena and their applications. This Review surveys the recent progress in the domain of artificial phononic media with an emphasis on the role of symmetry breaking, in both space and time, for advanced wave phenomena.

Nature Reviews Materials, Published online: 12 December 2025; doi:10.1038/s41578-025-00872-5The transition of perovskite solar cells from laboratory research to industrial-scale production creates an important opportunity to prioritize sustainability. This Review introduces a closed-loop framework, addressing material sourcing, fabrication methods, solvent design, lead-risk mitigation, recycling strategies and future directions.

Nature Reviews Materials, Published online: 05 December 2025; doi:10.1038/s41578-025-00866-3Organic thermoelectric materials are transitioning from laboratory prototypes towards practical devices and could potentially surpass the performance of their inorganic counterparts near room temperature. Research priorities include probing the thermoelectric conversion limit of soft materials, designing organic thermoelectrics for precise temperature control and exploring applications beyond conventional power generation.