Ge Yiyao, Huang Biao, Li Lujiang, Yun Qinbai, Shi Zhenyu, Chen Bo, Zhang Hua
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China.
Department of Chemistry, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.
ACS Nano. 2023 Jul 25;17(14):12935-12954. doi: 10.1021/acsnano.3c01922. Epub 2023 Jul 10.
The structural transformation of materials, which involves the evolution of different structural features, including phase, composition, morphology, etc., under external conditions, represents an important fundamental phenomenon and has drawn substantial research interest. Recently, materials with unconventional phases that are different from their thermodynamically stable ones have been demonstrated to possess distinct properties and compelling functions and can further serve as starting materials for structural transformation studies. The identification and mechanism study of the structural transformation process of unconventional-phase starting materials can not only provide deep insights into their thermodynamic stability in potential applications but also offer effective approaches for the synthesis of other unconventional structures. Here, we briefly summarize the recent research progress on the structural transformation of some typical starting materials with various unconventional phases, including the metastable crystalline phase, amorphous phase, and heterophase, induced by different approaches. The importance of unconventional-phase starting materials in the structural modulation of resultant intermediates and products will be highlighted. The employment of diverse / characterization techniques and theoretical simulations in studying the mechanism of the structural transformation process will also be introduced. Finally, we discuss the existing challenges in this emerging research field and provide some future research directions.
材料的结构转变涉及在外部条件下不同结构特征（包括相、成分、形态等）的演变，是一种重要的基本现象，已引起大量研究关注。最近，已证明具有不同于其热力学稳定相的非常规相的材料具有独特的性质和引人注目的功能，并且可以进一步作为结构转变研究的起始材料。对非常规相起始材料结构转变过程的识别和机理研究，不仅可以深入了解其在潜在应用中的热力学稳定性，还可以为合成其他非常规结构提供有效方法。在此，我们简要总结了一些具有各种非常规相的典型起始材料（包括亚稳晶相、非晶相和异相）在不同方法诱导下结构转变的最新研究进展。将突出非常规相起始材料在所得中间体和产物结构调制中的重要性。还将介绍在研究结构转变过程机理中使用的各种表征技术和理论模拟。最后，我们讨论了这个新兴研究领域中存在的挑战，并提供了一些未来的研究方向。
