The development of programmable microscale materials with cell-like functions, dynamics and collective behaviour is an important milestone in systems chemistry, soft matter bioengineering and synthetic protobiology. Here, polymer/nucleotide coacervate micro-droplets are reconfigured into membrane-bounded polyoxometalate coacervate vesicles (PCVs) in the presence of a bio-inspired Ru-based polyoxometalate catalyst to produce synzyme protocells (Ru₄PCVs) with catalase-like activity. We exploit the synthetic protocells for the implementation of multi-compartmentalized cell-like models capable of collective synzyme-mediated buoyancy, parallel catalytic processing in individual horseradish peroxidase-containing Ru₄PCVs, and chemical signalling in distributed or encapsulated multi-catalytic protocell communities. Our results highlight a new type of catalytic micro-compartment with multi-functional activity and provide a step towards the development of protocell reaction networks.

In this paper, a perspective on the application of Spatially- and Angle-Resolved PhotoEmission Spectroscopy (ARPES) for the study of two-dimensional (2D) materials is presented. ARPES allows the direct measurement of the electronic band structure of materials generating extremely useful insights into their electronic properties. The possibility to apply this technique to 2D materials is of paramount importance because these ultrathin layers are considered fundamental for future electronic, photonic and spintronic devices. In this review an overview of the technical aspects of spatially localized ARPES is given along with a description of the most advanced setups for laboratory and synchrotron-based equipment. This technique is sensitive to the lateral dimensions of the sample. Therefore, a discussion on the preparation methods of 2D material is presented. Some of the most interesting results obtained by ARPES are reported in three sections including: graphene, transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) and 2D heterostructures. Graphene has played a key role in ARPES studies because it inspired the use of this technique with other 2D materials. TMDCs are presented for their peculiar transport, optical and spin properties. Finally, the section featuring heterostructures highlights a future direction for research into 2D material structures.

We have investigated the electronic response of single crystals of indium selenide by means of angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy, electron energy loss spectroscopy and density functional theory. The loss spectrum of indium selenide shows the direct free exciton at ~1.3 eV and several other peaks, which do not exhibit dispersion with the momentum. The joint analysis of the experimental band structure and the density of states indicates that spectral features in the loss function are strictly related to single-particle transitions. These excitations cannot be considered as fully coherent plasmons and they are damped even in the optical limit, i.e. for small momenta. The comparison of the calculated symmetry-projected density of states with electron energy loss spectra enables the assignment of the spectral features to transitions between specific electronic states. Furthermore, the effects of ambient gases on the band structure and on the loss function have been probed.