Emerging van der Waals material CuInP2S6: physical properties, theories and applications

Beginning with the revolutionary discovery of graphene, researchers have delved into numerous van der Waals (vdW) materials known for their exceptional electrical, optical, thermal and mechanical properties, significantly widening the boundaries of our manipulation and understanding of the physical world at the nanoscale. CuInP₂S₆ (CIPS), as one of the emerging two-dimensional (2D) vdW materials, has garnered considerable attention due to its vdW layered structure and room-temperature ferroelectricity. In recent years, CIPS holds broad application prospects in neuromorphic computing, artificial visual systems and memory devices, and has aroused extensive research interest in materials science and optoelectronics. In this review, we summarized the diverse properties of CIPS and the different microscopic origins of memristive behavior, and then introduced several devices based on CIPS with different design structures. Finally, the challenges that still exist in the device application are discussed, as well as possible directions for further exploration of the material in the future.