Stacking engineering in layered homostructures: transitioning from 2D to 3D architectures

Artificial materials, characterized by their distinctive properties and customized functionalities, occupy a central role in a wide range of applications including electronics, spintronics, optoelectronics, catalysis, and energy storage. The emergence of atomically thin two-dimensional (2D) materials has driven the creation of artificial heterostructures, harnessing the potential of combining various 2D building blocks with complementary properties through the art of stacking engineering. The promising outcomes achieved for heterostructures have spurred an inquisitive exploration of homostructures, where identical 2D layers are precisely stacked. This perspective primarily focuses on the field of stacking engineering within layered homostructures, where precise control over translational or rotational degrees of freedom between vertically stacked planes or layers is paramount. In particular, we provide an overview of recent advancements in the stacking engineering applied to 2D homostructures. Additionally, we will shed light on research endeavors venturing into three-dimensional (3D) structures, which allow us to proactively address the limitations associated with artificial 2D homostructures. We anticipate that the breakthroughs in stacking engineering in 3D materials will provide valuable insights into the mechanisms governing stacking effects. Such advancements have the potential to unlock the full capability of artificial layered homostructures, propelling the future development of materials, physics, and device applications. Assembling identical 2D layers into homostructures, ranging from bi-layers to 3D structures, by controlling the rotational and translational degrees of freedom provides an effective route to manipulate their properties for advanced functionalities.