Perspective and Prospects for Ordered Functional Materials

• Published in: Advanced science Vol. 10; no. 13; pp. e2300193 - n/a
• Main Authors: Zhang, Hai‐Tian, Zhang, Tao, Zhang, Xiangyi
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Germany John Wiley & Sons, Inc 01.05.2023; John Wiley and Sons Inc; Wiley
• Subjects: catalytic materials; Copyright; Efficiency; Electrodes; Energy; magnetic materials; Materials design strategy; Nanocrystals; ordered microstructures; Scanning electron microscopy; thermoelectric materials; ordered microstructures; catalytic materials; thermoelectric materials; Materials design strategy; magnetic materials
• ISSN: 2198-3844; 2198-3844
• DOI: 10.1002/advs.202300193

Many functional materials are approaching their performance limits due to inherent trade‐offs between essential physical properties. Such trade‐offs can be overcome by engineering a material that has an ordered arrangement of structural units, including constituent components/phases, grains, and domains. By rationally manipulating the ordering with abundant structural units at multiple length scales, the structural ordering opens up unprecedented opportunities to create transformative functional materials, as amplified properties or disruptive functionalities can be realized. In this perspective article, a brief overview of recent advances in the emerging ordered functional materials across catalytic, thermoelectric, and magnetic materials regarding the fabrication, structure, and property is presented. Then the possibility of applying this structural ordering strategy to highly efficient neuromorphic computing devices and durable battery materials is discussed. Finally, remaining scientific challenges are highlighted, and the prospects for ordered functional materials are made. This perspective aims to draw the attention of the scientific community to the emerging ordered functional materials and trigger intense studies on this topic. Structural ordering is an emerging nature‐inspired materials design principle to achieve mutually exclusive properties in functional materials. By rationally constructing ordered structural units and their characteristics, many new phenomena and superior properties beyond those of existing materials are discovered in the emerging ordered functional materials that are critical to high‐efficiency energy technologies.