Chalcogenides by Design: Functionality through Metavalent Bonding and Confinement

Advanced Materials, vol. 32, pp. e1908302

Abstract

. These compounds and related materials show a unique portfolio of physical properties. A novel map is discussed, which helps to explain these properties and separates the different fundamental bonding mechanisms (e.g., ionic, metallic, and covalent). The map also provides evidence for an unconventional, new bonding mechanism, coined metavalent bonding (MVB). Incipient metals, employing this bonding mechanism, also show a special bond breaking mechanism. MVB differs considerably from resonant bonding encountered in benzene or graphite. The concept of MVB is employed to explain the unique properties of materials utilizing it. Then, the link is made from fundamental insights to application-relevant properties, crucial for the use of these materials as thermoelectrics, phase change materials, topological insulators or as active photonic components. The close relationship of the materials' properties and their application potential provides optimization schemes for different applications. Finally, evidence will be presented that for metavalently bonded materials interesting effects arise in reduced dimensions. In particular, the consequences for the crystallization kinetics of thin films and nanoparticles will be discussed in detail.

Authors 2

1. Bart Jan Kooi corresponding

   University of Groningen · Zernike Institute for Advanced Materials

   Affiliation as printed

   Zernike Institute for Advanced Materials University of Groningen Nijenborgh 4 Groningen 9747 AG the Netherlands

   Zernike Institute for Advanced Materials, University of Groningen, Nijenborgh 4, Groningen, 9747 AG the Netherlands

2. Matthias Wuttig corresponding Aachen Institute of Physics IA

   RWTH Aachen University · Forschungszentrum Jülich · Jülich Aachen Research Alliance

   Affiliation as printed

   Institute of Physics IA RWTH Aachen University Aachen 52074 Germany

   JARA‐Institute: Energy‐Efficient Information Technology (Green IT) Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH Jülich 52428 Germany

   Institute of Physics IA, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, 52074 Germany