Chained Materials: Definition, Understandings, and Applications

The crystal structures of materials directly determine their properties and thus their applications. Chained materials, namely crystalline materials composed of one-dimensional (1D) atomic chains, have attracted a lot of attentions in the last ten years due to their unique properties and promising device performance. By now, traditional three-dimensional (3D) and two-dimensional (2D) crystal structural materials have been systematically investigated; exploration and understanding of 1D chained materials are much less. This review aims to provide a comprehensive understanding on the uniqueness of 1D crystal structure and characteristics of chained materials, and expect to unveil more extraordinary properties and innovative opportunities. In this review, we present the current status of chained materials, focusing especially on the theoretical and experimental studies reported to date. The structure features, optoelectronic properties, and growth mechanisms are discussed carefully, in comparison with 3D and 2D crystal structural materials. Main applications and key advances of chained semiconductor materials are then summarized in several different categories. Finally, a brief perspective on the future applications of chained semiconductors ends this review.