title: The Hydric Effect in Inorganic Nanomaterials for Nanoelectronics and Energy Applications.
abstract: Protons, as one of the world's smallest ions, are able to trigger the charge effect without obvious lattice expansion inside inorganic materials, offering a unique and important test-bed for controlling their diverse functionalities. Arising from the high chemical reactivity of hydrogen (easily losing an electron) with various main group anions (easily accepting a proton), the hydric effect provides a convenient and environmentally benign route to bring about fascinating new physicochemical properties, as well as to create new inorganic structures based on the "old lattice" without dramatically destroying the pristine structure, covering most inorganic materials. Moreover, hydrogen atoms tend to bond with anions or to produce intrinsic defects, both of which are expected to inject extra electrons into lattice framework, promising advances in control of bandgap, spin behavior, and carrier concentration, which determine functionality for wide applications. In this review article, recently developed effective hydric strategies are highlighted, which include the conventional hydric reaction under high temperature or room temperature, proton irradiation or hydrogen plasma treatment, and gate-electrolyte-driven adsorption or doping. The diverse physicochemical properties brought by the hydric effect via modulation of the intrinsic electronic structure are also summarized, finding wide applications in nanoelectronics, energy applications, and catalysis.
authors.affiliation: Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, iChEM (Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials) and CAS Key Laboratory of Mechanical Behavior and Design of Materials, University of Science & Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui, 230026, PR China.
authors.forename: Xu
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, iChEM (Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials) and CAS Key Laboratory of Mechanical Behavior and Design of Materials, University of Science & Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui, 230026, PR China.
authors.forename: Yuqiao
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.affiliation: Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, iChEM (Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials) and CAS Key Laboratory of Mechanical Behavior and Design of Materials, University of Science & Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui, 230026, PR China.
authors.forename: Changzheng
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, iChEM (Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials) and CAS Key Laboratory of Mechanical Behavior and Design of Materials, University of Science & Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui, 230026, PR China.
authors.forename: Yi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Xie
keywords: catalysis; electronic structure; energy storage and conversion; hydric effect; nanoelectronics