Emerging Mono‐Elemental Bismuth Nanostructures: Controlled Synthesis and Their Versatile Applications

Abstract

Bismuth (Bi), as a nontoxic and inexpensive diamagnetic heavy metal, has recently been utilized for the preparation of a variety of nanomaterials, such as nanoparticles, nanowires, nanotubes, nanosheets, etc., with a tunable bandgap, unique structure, excellent physicochemical properties, and compositional features for versatile properties, such as near‐infrared absorbance, high X‐ray attenuation coefficient, excellent photothermal conversion efficiency, and a long circulation half‐life. These features have endowed mono‐elemental Bi nanomaterials with desirable performances for electronics/optoelectronics, energy storage and conversion, catalysis, nonlinear photonics, sensors, biomedical applications, etc. This review summarizes the controlled synthesis of mono‐elemental Bi nanomaterials with different shapes and sizes, highlights the state‐of‐the‐art progress of the desired applications of mono‐elemental Bi nanomaterials, and presents some personal insights on the challenges and future opportunities in this research area. It is hoped that the controllable manipulation techniques of Bi nanomaterials, along with their unique properties, can shed light on the next‐generation devices based on Bi nanostructures and Bi‐related nanomaterials.

Nanoengineering of Tin Monosulfide (SnS)‐Based Structures for Emerging Applications

“…To understand the structure-property of any nanostructures, it is essential to precisely synthesize and thoroughly characterize the desired nanostructures. [33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41] With the rapid development of synthetic techniques, a variety of approaches have been employed to synthesize SnS-based nanostructures, including 0D, 1D, 2D, and 3D pure SnS nanostructures, and SnS-based loaded, sandwiched, or encapsulated model. In this section, these approaches are briefly summarized in Table 1, and it should be noted that only the commonly used approaches are presented which do not include all the synthetic approaches.…”

“…[42][43][44] 0D nanoparticles have a size range from 1 to 100 nm, which have received intensive attention in the past two decades in many fields, such as energy storage and conversion, catalysis, optoelectronics, sensors, and biomedicines, due to their quantum effect. [33,34,36] Until now, a number of approaches have been employed to synthesize the 0D SnS nanomaterials with narrow size distribution. [31,[42][43][44][45][46][47][47][48][49][50] For example, in 2010, Ning et al [47] reported 0D SnS NPs by a solvothermal method using Sn 6 O 4 (OH) 4 as a Sn source and TAA as a S source.…”

MXene-Based Materials for Solar Cell Applications

“…Recently, it has been shown that by using a combination of chemical exfoliation and sonication, the synthesis and mass production of 2D materials from three-dimensional (3D) layered compounds with chemical bonding between the layers is also feasible. In this regard, many members of the MAX phase family (more than 130 reported to date) can be exfoliated into 2D MXenes by selective etching of the A element layers [96,[116][117][118][119][120].…”

Electromagnetic Interference Shielding of 2D Transition Metal Carbide (MXene)/Metal Ion Composites

“…In recent years, due to the continuous development of science and technology, newer and faster wireless communication networks have been further covering the entire world, and the shrinking of the volume of intelligent electronic devices throughout the world has attracted the attention of people in the field of electromagnetic interference shielding. Because electromagnetic radiation not only causes harm to the human body but also affects the normal use of electronic equipment, and the traditional electromagnetic interference shielding material has difficulty coping with the increasingly sophisticated and miniaturized electronic equipment, the search for new electromagnetic interference shielding materials has become a focus [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9]. Many articles have studied the electromagnetic shielding effectiveness of some composite materials [10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19].…”