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Opportunities in chemistry and materials science for topological insulators and their nanostructures

Nature Chemistry volume 3, pages 845–849 (2011)Cite this article

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Abstract

Electrical charges on the boundaries of topological insulators favour forward motion over back-scattering at impurities, producing low-dissipation, metallic states that exist up to room temperature in ambient conditions. These states have the promise to impact a broad range of applications from electronics to the production of energy, which is one reason why topological insulators have become the rising star in condensed-matter physics. There are many challenges in the processing of these exotic materials to use the metallic states in functional devices, and they present great opportunities for the chemistry and materials science research communities.

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Figure 1: Exotic electronic states in topological insulators.
Figure 2: Evidence of topological insulators.
Figure 3: Nanostructures of topological insulators.
Figure 4: Heterostructures of topological insulators.

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Acknowledgements

We have benefited from discussions with Shou-Cheng Zhang and Zhong Wang to improve this Perspective. Our research on topological insulators is supported by the Keck Foundation and DARPA MESO project (no. N66001-11-1-4105). Y. C. acknowledges the support from King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) Investigator Award (no. KUS-l1-001-12).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Stanford University, 94305, California, USA

    Desheng Kong & Yi Cui

  2. Stanford Institute for Materials and Energy Sciences, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, 2575 Sand Hill Road, Menlo Park, 94205, California, USA

    Yi Cui

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Correspondence to Yi Cui.

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Kong, D., Cui, Y. Opportunities in chemistry and materials science for topological insulators and their nanostructures. Nature Chem 3, 845–849 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/nchem.1171

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