Transparent conductive materials (TCMs) have important applications in the fields of military, biomedicine, and energy. Despite the emergence of visible TCMs, the development of infrared TCM is still a daunting challenge due to the trade-off between infrared transparency and conductivity. This greatly limits the development of next-generation infrared electromagnetic shielding, infrared photodetectors and infrared light-emitting diodes. In this review, we first analyze the fundamental physics of infrared transparency and conductivity to reveal the origin of the trade-off. We then summarize the effect of defect introduction, energy band modulation and surface modification on the performance improvement of traditional infrared TCMs. On this basis, we predict two infrared TCMs: high-ε_opt heavy-metal chalcogenides and low-n yet high-τ topological semimetals. Finally, we present emerging applications of infrared TCMs and predict future developments. This review, therefore, achieves a coherent description from the physical origin, material design to potential applications, and lays out a roadmap for the development of infrared optoelectronics. This may lead to more researches in the advanced materials, information, energy, and biological communities.

透明导电材料 (TCM) 在军事、生物医学和能源领域具有重要应用。尽管出现了可见中药，但由于红外透明度和传导性之间的权衡，红外中药的开发仍然是一项艰巨的挑战。这极大地限制了下一代红外电磁屏蔽、红外光电探测器和红外发光二极管的发展。在这篇综述中，我们首先分析了红外透明度和电导率的基础物理学，以揭示权衡的根源。然后，我们总结了缺陷引入、能带调制和表面改性对传统红外 TCM 性能提升的影响。在此基础上，我们预测了两种红外TCMs：high- ε _opt重金属硫族化物和低n但高τ 的拓扑半金属。最后，我们介绍了红外中药的新兴应用并预测了未来的发展。因此，这篇综述实现了从物理起源、材料设计到潜在应用的连贯描述，并为红外光电子学的发展制定了路线图。这可能会导致对先进材料、信息、能源和生物群落的更多研究。