Squaraine dyes: a mine of molecular materials

This feature article highlights the recent developments in the field of squaraine chemistry. Attempts have been made to address the relevance of squaraine dyes as a class of functional organic materials useful for electronic and photonic applications. Due to the synthetic access of a variety of squaraine dyes with structural variations and due to the strong absorption and emission properties which respond to the surrounding medium, these dyes have been receiving significant attention. Therefore, squaraine dyes have been extensively investigated in recent years, from both fundamental and technological viewpoints.