Six-Member Ring (SMR) materials

We are delighted to announce this special themed issue dedicated to Six-Member Ring (SMR) Materials, a concept recently introduced and since actively nurtured through its early growth. Over the past several years, this family of materials, defined by their cyclic six-atom skeletal units (whether carbon, heteroatom, or inorganic), has evolved from a structural curiosity into a versatile platform. The unique combination of conformational rigidity, tunable electronic coupling, and anisotropic charge transport has spurred exciting developments in 2D materials, metals, ceramics, polymers, covalent organic frameworks, and macrocyclic crystals, laying the groundwork for a new materials taxonomy.

This special issue aims to take stock of the impressive progress already achieved while, more importantly, charting the frontiers that lie ahead. We seek not merely to archive discoveries but to provoke deeper thinking: How can we rationally design SMRs with unprecedented properties? What synthetic bottlenecks remain? And how might SMRs redefine performance benchmarks in real-world devices? By bringing together diverse perspectives, we hope to stimulate cross-disciplinary dialogue that will shape the next wave of innovation.

This collection will cover a broad range of topics concerning SMRs, including (but not limited to):

• theoretical design and high-throughput screening
• novel synthetic methodologies (including solution-phase, interfacial, and solid-state routes)
• electronic and optoelectronic applications (e.g., field-effect transistors, sensors, memory devices)
• energy-related uses (batteries, supercapacitors, electrocatalysis) 
• emerging applications in photonics, spintronics, or biomedicine

Submissions to the collection should fit within the scope of Nanoscale. Please see the journal webpage for more information on the journal’s scope, standards, article types and author guidelines.

We strongly encourage authors to submit original research. However, if you wish to submit a Review article do get in touch with the Editorial Office and these will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

If you would like to contribute to this themed collection, you can submit your article directly via the online submission system for Nanoscale. Please mention that this submission is a contribution to the “Six-Member Ring (SMR) Materials” collection in the “Themed issues” section of the submission form and add a “Note to the Editor” that this is from the Open Call.