Non-covalent interactions have gained increasing attention for use as a driving force to fabricate various supramolecular architectures, exhibiting great potential in crystal and materials engineering and supramolecular chemistry. As one of the most powerful non-covalent bonds, the halogen bond has recently received increasing attention in functional nanomaterial design. The present review describes the latest studies based on halogen bonding induced self-assembly and its applications. Due to the high directionality and controllable interaction strength, halogen bonding can provide a facile platform for the design and synthesis of a myriad of nanomaterials. In addition, both the fundamental aspects and the real engineering applications are discussed, which encompass molecular recognition and sensing, organocatalysis, and controllable multifunctional materials and surfaces.
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