Compositional and structural engineering of inorganic nanowires toward advanced properties and applications

As natural one-dimensional confined electron transport channels and photon propagation paths, nanowires (NWs) display unmatched properties and huge potential for application in diverse fields. The ability to construct a nanoscale functional system would enable significant advances in the currently desired miniaturized device integration. To date, the basic properties of all types of nanowire crystals, including metallic NWs, as well as group IV-related, III-V/II-VI compounds, and metal oxide NWs, are well understood. Regarding future work, compositional (ie, doping and alloying) and structural (defect and heterostructure) designs to flexibly realize custom-made functionality are emphasized. Along this line, recent progress is reviewed, including the basic properties (nanowire mechanics, electronics, and photonics) and applications such as photodetectors and chemical/biological sensors. A review of the correlations between the compositional/structural configuration of nanowires and the corresponding functionality is also presented. The future development direction of this field is concluded and highlighted at the end.