The class of ternary copper chalcogenides Cu3MX4 (M = V, Nb, Ta; X = S, Se, Te), also known as the sulvanite family, has attracted attention in the past decade as featuring promising materials for optoelectronic devices, including solar photovoltaics. Experimental and theoretical studies of these semiconductors have provided much insight into their properties, both in bulk and at the nanoscale. The recent realization of sulvanites at the nanoscale opens new avenues for the compounds toward printable electronics. This review is aimed at the consideration of synthesis methods, relevant properties and the recent developments of the most important sulvanites.

Niobium sulvanites Cu3NbX4 (X = S, Se) have been theoretically predicted as promising candidates for solar photovoltaics and photocatalytic water splitting. This report outlines the first synthesis of Cu3NbS4 and Cu3NbSe4 in a nanocrystalline form. The crystal structures were investigated by X-ray diffraction, identity was confirmed by Raman spectroscopy, and the optoelectronic properties and morphology of Cu3NbS4 and Cu3NbSe4 nanocrystals were examined by UV–vis spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy, respectively. To gain insight into the Cu3NbX4 formation, a mechanistic study was conducted for Cu3NbSe4 monitoring the nanoparticles’ formation as a function of reaction time. Methylene blue photodegradation tests were conducted to evaluate the photoactivity of Cu3NbS4 and Cu3NbSe4. The degradation rates, 2.81 × 10–2 min–1 and 1.22 × 10–2 min–1 proved the photocatalysts’ potential of nanoscale Cu3NbX4.

Materials that undergo a phase transition from metallic to insulating, or metal−insulator transition (MIT), materials have become widely popular for their potential in emerging technologies due to their drastic conductivity change upon transitioning. Notable among the MIT materials is vanadium dioxide (VO 2 ), and ongoing efforts are focused on tuning its MIT phase transition temperature (TMIT). In this report, VO 2 germanium-doped nanoparticles with various germanium dopant levels were synthesized via a hydrothermal route and used in a simple single-switch antenna. Powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis shows a monoclinic phase (M1) for both the pure and Gedoped VO 2 nanomaterials at room temperature, with no change in the diffraction pattern in the Ge-doped samples at low doping percentages; the M1 phase for both pure and Ge-doped VO 2 was further confirmed by Raman spectroscopy. Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) showed Ge uniformly distributed in the nanomaterials. The nanoparticles' morphology, imaged by fieldemission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM), reveals a morphology change from nanoparticles to nanosheets with increased dopant concentration. Ge-doped VO 2 nanoparticle dispersions were used to print a single switch in an antenna solely obtained through a facile printing process. A vector network analyzer used to characterize the antenna performance showed that the germanium doping successfully changed the transition temperature of the material, demonstrating the capability of controlling the antenna operation frequencies as a function of material doping. Density functional theory (DFT) shows that substituting Ge into a V site of the crystal structure distorts the lattice and reduces the band gap at high doping percentages. These results provide insight into the potential of smart switches fabricated from Ge-doped VO 2 .