The Design and Science of Polyelemental Nanoparticles

Polyelemental nanoparticles (PE NPs) containing four or more elements in a single NP have intriguing intrinsic properties compared to their single-element counterparts. The fusion of diverse elements induces synergistic effects including new physical and chemical phenomena. However, conventional methods have not offered effective strategies for the uniform creation of PE NPs with high reproducibility. Recently, with advances in nanoscience, several new methods have been developed using both thermodynamic and kinetic approaches and, often, the interplay between them. In this Perspective, we highlight recent key advances in the design of PE NPs and their underlying formation mechanisms. We discuss the potential applications of PE NPs and the outlook and future directions for this field.