Real-space imaging of moiré-confined excitons in twisted bilayer MoS2

Nature Physics (2026)

Laurens J. M. Westenberg, Lumen Eek, Jort D. Verbakel, Kevin Vonk, Stijn J. H. Borggreve, Kenji Watanabe, Takashi Taniguchi, Paul de Boeij, Rodrigo Arouca, Cristiane Morais Smith & Pantelis Bampoulis

This work, with collaboration of Prof. Rodrigo Arouca (CBPF), reported real-space imaging of moiré-confined excitons in 2° twisted bilayer MoS2, addressing the challenge of locating different excitonic species within a single moiré unit cell. Using room-temperature photocurrent atomic force microscopy, combined with a Wannier-based moiré-exciton model, model, they show that direct and indirect excitons localize at distinct stacking registries, establishing benchmarks for excitonic lattices and optoelectronic devices.

Correspondence: rodrigo-arouca@cbpf.br

Mixed-Ligand Engineering of Manganese Perovskite-like Materials with Tunable Solid−Solid Phase Transitions

ACS Applied Energy Materials, 2026, 9, 8571−8583

David Nieto-Castro; Ariel Nonato; Rosivaldo Silva; Breogán Pato-Doldán; Amira Abdellattef; Antonio L. Llamas-Saiz; L. Claudia Gómez-Aguirre

This work, with collaboration of prof. Ariel Nonato (UFMA),  demonstrates mixed-ligand engineering in manganese hybrid perovskite-like frameworks by partially substituting azide with formate linkers. Through solution synthesis, elemental analysis, PXRD, temperature-dependent diffraction, FTIR and DSC, they tune reversible solid–solid transitions near ambient conditions while modulating entropy, enthalpy and phase coexistence. Together, the papers advance design rules for quantum and energy-related materials by linking microscopic structure to macroscopic optical or thermal functionality.

Correspondence: ariel.nonato@ufma.br