Hybrid inorganic/organic superlattices provide a new path to access the exceptional properties of 2D materials in bulk quantities for macroscopic applications.

Constructing hybrid composites with organic and inorganic materials at different length scales provides unconventional opportunities in the field of thermoelectric materials, which are classified as hybrid crystal, superlattice, and nanocomposite. A variety of new techniques have been proposed to fabricate hybrid thermoelectric materials with homogeneous microstructures and intimate interfaces, which are critical for good thermoelectric performance. The combination of organic and inorganic materials at the nano or atomic scale can cause strong perturbation in the structural, electron, and phonon characteristics, providing new mechanisms to decouple electrical and thermal transport properties that are not attainable in the pure organic or inorganic counterparts. Because of their increasing thermoelectric performance, compositional diversity, mechanical flexibility, and ease of fabrication, hybrid materials have become the most promising candidates for flexible energy harvesting and solid-state cooling.

Fe-based multiphase nanocrystallized ribbons (CR-II) prepared by annealing of metallic glasses show unexpected high performance for Orange II degradation.

2D transitional metal dichalcogenide (2D-TMDC) materials, as inorganic graphene analogs (IGAs), have been intensively investigated for their novel chemical and physical properties when the thickness is reduced to a few atomic layers, such as MoS 2 , WS 2 , among others. [1] Tantalum disulfide, TaS 2 , one of the TMDC materials, has attracted growing attention recently. In the bulk state, TaS 2 occupies 2H or 1T structure, which is composed of covalently bonded STaS layers. 1T-TaS 2 with Ta in octahedral coordination with S atoms exhibits semiconducting behavior, and it has a commensurate charge density wave (CCDW) phase under 180 K. Adjusted by pressure, the superconductivity of 1T-TaS 2 develops in the CCDW state and survives to very high pressure. [2][3][4] 2H-TaS 2 with Ta in trigonal prismatic coordination with S atoms exhibits metallic behaviors with CDW phase transition (T CDW = 75 K) and superconductivity (T c = 0.8 K). [5][6][7][8] The electrical conductivity of single-crystal 2H-TaS 2 can reach 6.8 × 10 4 S m −1 at room temperature. [9] When the thickness is reduced to a few layers, interesting phenomena have been found, such as gate-tunable phase transition [10] and enhanced superconductivity, [11] which are promising properties for applications like electrical oscillators, [12] fast memories, [13] hydrogen evolution catalyst. [14] Until now, 2D TaS 2 has been mainly synthesized by the mechanical exfoliation method, [15] which is time consuming and of poor reproductivity and low yield. It has been noticed that the exfoliation of TaS 2 seems rather difficult and the atomically thin layers are unstable in ambient environments due to easy oxidation. [16] Complex encapsulation techniques are therefore required to help preserve the samples in air. [16] The chemical vapor deposition method [17] proves to be swift and effective in fabrication of high-quality 2D materials, but large-area synthesis of full-coverage atomically thin material is still in progress. For device applications, solution-based chemical synthesis is particularly important, as the product can be easily integrated into electronic devices.There is a new solution-based strategy to synthesize 2D materials in the form of inorganic/organic superlattice, in which the inorganic layers may get close to the low-dimensional state due to the spatial separation by the organic molecules. In our previous papers, we synthesized a hybrid superlattice with alternating 2D [TiS 2 ] monolayers and organic cations through an electrochemical reaction process. [18] The isolation of the [TiS 2 ] TaS 2 nanolayers with reduced dimensionality show interesting physics, such as a gate-tunable phase transition and enhanced superconductivity, among others. Here, a solution-based strategy to fabricate a large-area foil of hybrid TaS 2 /organic superlattice, where [TaS 2 ] monolayers and organic molecules alternatively stack in atomic scale, is proposed. The [TaS 2 ] layers are spatially isolated with remarkably weakened interlayer bonding, resulting in lattice vibration ...

Hybrid inorganic/organic thermoelectric materials have recently gained increasing research interest, due to their mechanical flexibility and the wide tunability of their components and properties. In this Communication, a new strategy to fabricate an inorganic/organic superlattice of Bi2Se3hexylamm‐onium0.11dimethylsulfoxide0.06 (Bi2Se3HA0.11DMSO0.06) through a series of chemical reaction processes, including lithium intercalation, ionic exchange, and organic exchange, is put forward. It is shown that the organic molecules expand the interlayer space between the Bi2Se3 layers and form a triple‐layer structure, where the hexylammonium ions are ionically bonded to the negatively charged Bi2Se3 layers. The lattice vibration modes of the Bi2Se3 layers in this hybrid superlattice are found to be softened due to weakened interlayer interaction and phonon confinement effect. The hybrid Bi2Se3HA0.11DMSO0.06 shows a power factor of 950 µW m−1 K−2 at room temperature, among the best in n‐type flexible thermoelectric materials. A huge reduction of thermal conductivity is observed, which contributes to the large enhancement of zT value. The current research on Bi2Se3‐based inorganic/organic superlattices can stimulate exploration of novel high‐performance flexible thermoelectric materials by hybridizing inorganic and organic materials at the atomic scale.