Liu Kailang, Liu Lixin, Zhai Tianyou
State Key Laboratory of Materials Processing and Die & Mould Technology, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, P.R. China.
J Phys Chem Lett. 2022 Mar 10;13(9):2173-2179. doi: 10.1021/acs.jpclett.1c04213. Epub 2022 Mar 1.
The concept of two-dimensional (2D) inorganic molecular crystals (IMCs) was first introduced by Zhai and coauthors in 2019. In contrast to the layered structures of graphene-like 2D materials, 2D IMCs consist of tiny inorganic molecules bonded together through all-around van der Waals (vdW) interactions. Their structural peculiarities lead to some special behaviors and appealing properties in their synthesis and applications. In this Perspective, we first introduce the concept of 2D IMCs and present the very first synthesis of 2D IMCs using a surface-passivated growth approach. The special intermolecular effects between the inorganic molecules are also summarized. In addition, because of its molecular structure, a vdW film of IMCs can be facilely fabricated, which exhibits appealing potential in integrated 2D devices. More importantly, we give a general outlook for the further development of 2D IMCs with the goal of attracting more attention to this emerging research frontier.
二维（2D）无机分子晶体（IMCs）的概念最早由翟及其合著者于2019年提出。与类石墨烯二维材料的层状结构不同，二维无机分子晶体由通过全方位范德华（vdW）相互作用结合在一起的微小无机分子组成。它们的结构特性在其合成和应用中导致了一些特殊行为和吸引人的性质。在这篇展望文章中，我们首先介绍二维无机分子晶体的概念，并展示使用表面钝化生长方法首次合成二维无机分子晶体的过程。还总结了无机分子之间特殊的分子间效应。此外，由于其分子结构，可以轻松制备无机分子晶体的范德华膜，这在集成二维器件中展现出诱人的潜力。更重要的是，我们对二维无机分子晶体的进一步发展给出了总体展望，目标是吸引更多人关注这一新兴的研究前沿。
