The significance of oxygen-deficient metal oxides based on their synthesis and applications perspectives
- 1Center for Advanced Materials, Qatar University, P.O.Box 2713, Doha, Qatar
- 2Institute of Chemistry, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Dubravska cesta 5807/9, Bratislava, 845 38, Slovak Republic
Abstract
Oxygen-deficient nanomaterials have emerged as a distinct class of functional materials that continue to attract extensive research interest due tothe presence of oxygen vacancies (OVs) and associated electronic structure modulation and broad technological relevance in catalysis, sensing, energy storage and conversion, and environmental remediation. This review provides a comprehensive examination of how different OVs preparation methods govern their formation, distribution, and stability, thereby dictating fundamental mechanisms in diverse nanostructured systems, with emphasis on the resulting structural distortions, electronic rearrangements, and defect–property correlations. Particular attention is devoted to advanced synthesis strategies designed to precisely and efficiently tailor vacancy concentration and distribution, as well as to state-of-the-art spectroscopic and microscopic methodologies enabling their quantitative and qualitative characterization. Furthermore, recent progress in the deployment of oxygen-deficient nanomaterials is evaluated in detail. Thermal and chemical reduction methods significantly increase the concentration of the vacancy and mixed-valence metal states, which enable enhanced electrical conductivity, redox properties and structural stability of the nanomaterials via excessive bulk defects.Plasma, laser, and electrochemical-assisted routes generate surface-localized OVs preferentially to serve as highly active catalytic sites during a wide range of catalytic reactions. However, non-stoichiometric type strategies, including high-energy particle bombardment and chemical vapour deposition, offer thermodynamically stable OVs engineering, compensating for the materials’ activity and durability.By integrating insights from synthesis, characterization, and application perspectives, this review seeks to provide a view that all the adopted methods regulate the charge-transfer kinetics and adsorption energetics by promoting metal-oxygen covalency and introducing donor states of the evolving landscape of oxygen-deficient nanomaterials in their multifunctional role in dictating performance, and their potential to inform the rational design of next-generation materials for sustainable technologies.
Related
- CoFe₂O₄ Nanoparticles: Synthesis, Physicochemical Characterization, and Reactive Oxygen Species-mediated Selective Cytotoxicity for Radiotherapy Applications
- Two-Dimensional MXene-Reinforced Polymer Nanocomposites: Synthesis, Multifaceted-Properties, Applications, and Perspectives.
- Amorphous Cu-FeOOH Clusters on Oxygen-Deficient Fe-Doped BiOCl Nanoflowers for Efficient Photo-Fenton Degradation of Levofloxacin
- Density functional theory investigation of oxygen-deficient SnO2-x: Optoelectronic property tuning and hydrogen gas interaction
- Bridging [8]cyclo- para -phenylene with carbonyl and dicyanovinylene functionalities to access electron-deficient nanohoops for n-type OFET applications
BibTeX
@article{yousaf2026significance,
title = {{The significance of oxygen-deficient metal oxides based on their synthesis and applications perspectives}},
author = {Ammar Bin Yousaf and Umme Hafsa and Haseena Onthath and Lenka Lorencová and Jan Tkáč and Peter Kasák},
journal = {Emergent Materials},
year = {2026},
month = may,
doi = {10.1007/s42247-026-01414-7},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1007/s42247-026-01414-7},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - The significance of oxygen-deficient metal oxides based on their synthesis and applications perspectives
AU - Ammar Bin Yousaf
AU - Umme Hafsa
AU - Haseena Onthath
AU - Lenka Lorencová
AU - Jan Tkáč
AU - Peter Kasák
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/05/25
JO - Emergent Materials
DO - 10.1007/s42247-026-01414-7
UR - https://doi.org/10.1007/s42247-026-01414-7
AB - Oxygen-deficient nanomaterials have emerged as a distinct class of functional materials that continue to attract extensive research interest due tothe presence of oxygen vacancies (OVs) and associated electronic structure modulation and broad technological relevance in catalysis, sensing, energy storage and conversion, and environmental remediation. This review provides a comprehensive examination of how different OVs preparation methods govern their formation, distribution, and stability, thereby dictating fundamental mechanisms in diverse nanostructured systems, with emphasis on the resulting structural distortions, electronic rearrangements, and defect–property correlations. Particular attention is devoted to advanced synthesis strategies designed to precisely and efficiently tailor vacancy concentration and distribution, as well as to state-of-the-art spectroscopic and microscopic methodologies enabling their quantitative and qualitative characterization. Furthermore, recent progress in the deployment of oxygen-deficient nanomaterials is evaluated in detail. Thermal and chemical reduction methods significantly increase the concentration of the vacancy and mixed-valence metal states, which enable enhanced electrical conductivity, redox properties and structural stability of the nanomaterials via excessive bulk defects.Plasma, laser, and electrochemical-assisted routes generate surface-localized OVs preferentially to serve as highly active catalytic sites during a wide range of catalytic reactions. However, non-stoichiometric type strategies, including high-energy particle bombardment and chemical vapour deposition, offer thermodynamically stable OVs engineering, compensating for the materials’ activity and durability.By integrating insights from synthesis, characterization, and application perspectives, this review seeks to provide a view that all the adopted methods regulate the charge-transfer kinetics and adsorption energetics by promoting metal-oxygen covalency and introducing donor states of the evolving landscape of oxygen-deficient nanomaterials in their multifunctional role in dictating performance, and their potential to inform the rational design of next-generation materials for sustainable technologies.
SN - 2522-5731
SN - 2522-574X
ER -