Intercalation of Functional Materials with Phase Transitions for Neuromorphic Applications

TL;DR

This paper reviews how intercalating functional materials with phase transitions can enable advanced neuromorphic devices by inducing various intrinsic changes and exploring new physics.

Contribution

It summarizes recent methods and progress in intercalation-induced phase transitions and discusses their potential for neuromorphic applications.

Findings

Intercalation induces multiple phase transitions like ferroelectric and superconducting.

Recent progress demonstrates intercalation's role in tuning material properties.

Potential for intercalation to advance neuromorphic device technology.

Abstract

Introducing foreign ions, atoms, or molecules into emerging functional materials is crucial for manipulating material physical properties and innovating device applications. The intercalation of emerging new materials can induce multiple intrinsic changes, such as charge doping, chemical bonding, and lattice expansion, which facilitates the exploration of structural phase transformations, the tuning of symmetry-breaking-related physics, and the creation of brain-inspired advanced devices. Moreover, incorporating various hosts and intercalants enables a series of crystal structures with a rich spectrum of characteristics, greatly expanding the scope and fundamental understanding of existing materials. Herein, we summarize the methods typically used for the intercalation of functional materials. We highlight recent progress in intercalation-based phase transitions and their emerging physics, i.e., ferroelectric, magnetic, insulator-metal, superconducting, and charge-density-wave phase transitions. We discuss prospective device applications for intercalation-based phase transitions, i.e., neuromorphic devices. Finally, we provide potential future research lines for promoting its further development.