Chemical Synthesis and Materials Discovery

Abstract

Functional materials impact every area of our lives ranging from electronic and computing devices to transportation and health. In this Perspective, we examine the relationship between synthetic discoveries and the scientific breakthroughs that they have enabled. By tracing the development of some important examples, we explore how and why the materials were initially synthesized and how their utility was subsequently recognised. Three common pathways to materials breakthroughs are identified. In a small number of cases, such as the aluminosilicate zeolite catalyst ZSM-5, an important advance is made by using design principles based upon earlier work. There are also rare cases of breakthroughs that are serendipitous, such as the buckyball and Teflon(R). Most commonly, however, the breakthrough repurposes a compound that is already known and was often made out of curiosity or for a different application. Typically, the synthetic discovery precedes the discovery of functionality by many decades; key examples include conducting polymers, topological insulators and electrodes for lithium-ion batteries.

arXiv comment15 pages, two figures

References in corpus (4)

• Quantum Spin Hall Effect and Topological Phase Transition in HgTe Quantum Wells
• $Z_2$ Topological Order and the Quantum Spin Hall Effect
• Theoretical Discovery/Prediction: Weyl Semimetal states in the TaAs material (TaAs, NbAs, NbP, TaP) class
• CsV${}_3$Sb${}_5$: a ${\mathbb{Z}}_2$ topological kagome metal with a superconducting ground state

Cited by in corpus (3)

• Navigating phase diagram complexity to guide robotic inorganic materials synthesis
• Reducing Self-Interaction Error in Transition-Metal Oxides with Different Exact-Exchange Fractions for Energy and Density
• Ladder-like Structural Architecture of Layered Magnetic $A_{2.4}$Cr${}_8$Te${}_{14}$ ($A$ = Rb, Cs) Compounds by Self-flux Synthesis