Heteroatoms/molecules to tune the properties of 2D materials

Abstract: Heteroatoms and molecules can efficiently modulate the properties of 2D materials due to the adjustment of crystal structure and electron states, which displays dramatic potential in both the study of theoretical mechanisms and the practical applications. Recently, numerous efforts have been conducted to explore the strategies of introducing heteroatoms or molecules into 2D system to achieve various applications. Thus, this work reviews the recent advances in the approaches of introducing heteroatoms and the applications of the adjusted 2D materials, which would provide inspiration and insight to the 2D society. In this work, three main kinds of strategies (doping, intercalation and surface modification) are displayed and the corresponding examples for each detailed branch are listed to discuss the advantages and disadvantages. Then the potential magnetic, electric, optical and energy-related application of the adjusted 2D materials are further discussed. Consequently, the remained tricky challenges within each strategy to obtain heteroatoms are summarized, which can be deemed as not only shortcomings to be tackled but also promising opportunities to design controllably-doped 2D materials for future practical applications and theoretical researches.