Applications of amorphous inorganics as novel functional materials

Abstract

Amorphous inorganics have attracted much attention because of their long-range disordered structure with advantageous functional properties. In this minireview, novel advances in amorphous inorganics (e.g., metal, metallic oxide, and metallic salts) and their preparation strategies are highlighted and summarized. The intrinsic atomic structure of amorphous materials in short-, medium-, and long-range orientations is discussed. The relationships between their structural features (e.g., disorderliness, defects, metastability, isotropy, and flexible structure) and related properties are demonstrated. Their current characterization techniques for amorphous structures are presented as well. The applications of these amorphous inorganics are illustrated, covering the fields of mechanical, electrical, biomedical, and catalytical materials. Finally, future challenges and perspectives in the field of amorphous inorganics are discussed, and this review emphasizes the unique and important role of amorphous inorganics in the development of more advanced materials.