Polydopamine and Its Derivative Materials: Synthesis and Promising Applications in Energy, Environmental, and Biomedical Fields

Conjugated microporous polymers (CMPs) are a class of organic porous polymers that combine π-conjugated skeletons with permanent nanopores, in sharp contrast to other porous materials that are not π-conjugated and with conventional conjugated polymers that are nonporous. As an emerging material platform, CMPs offer a high flexibility for the molecular design of conjugated skeletons and nanopores. Various chemical reactions, building blocks and synthetic methods have been developed and a broad variety of CMPs with different structures and specific properties have been synthesized, driving the rapid growth of the field. CMPs are unique in that they allow the complementary utilization of π-conjugated skeletons and nanopores for functional exploration; they have shown great potential for challenging energy and environmental issues, as exemplified by their excellent performance in gas adsorption, heterogeneous catalysis, light emitting, light harvesting and electrical energy storage. This review describes the molecular design principles of CMPs, advancements in synthetic and structural studies and the frontiers of functional exploration and potential applications.

Conjugated microporous polymers: design, synthesis and application

The increase in the global atmospheric CO2 concentration resulting from over a century of combustion of fossil fuels has been associated with significant global climate change. With the global population increase driving continued increases in fossil fuel use, humanity’s primary reliance on fossil energy for the next several decades is assured. Traditional modes of carbon capture such as precombustion and postcombustion CO2 capture from large point sources can help slow the rate of increase of the atmospheric CO2 concentration, but only the direct removal of CO2 from the air, or “direct air capture” (DAC), can actually reduce the global atmospheric CO2 concentration. The past decade has seen a steep rise in the use of chemical sorbents that are cycled through sorption and desorption cycles for CO2 removal from ultradilute gases such as air. This Review provides a historical overview of the field of DAC, along with an exhaustive description of the use of chemical sorbents targeted at this application. Solv...

Direct Capture of CO2 from Ambient Air

To meet the growing energy demands in a low-carbon economy, the development of new materials that improve the efficiency of energy conversion and storage systems is essential. Mesoporous materials offer opportunities in energy conversion and storage applications owing to their extraordinarily high surface areas and large pore volumes. These properties may improve the performance of materials in terms of energy and power density, lifetime and stability. In this Review, we summarize the primary methods for preparing mesoporous materials and discuss their applications as electrodes and/or catalysts in solar cells, solar fuel production, rechargeable batteries, supercapacitors and fuel cells. Finally, we outline the research and development challenges of mesoporous materials that need to be overcome to increase their contribution in renewable energy applications. Mesoporous materials are finding increasing uses in energy conversion and storage devices. This Review highlights recent developments in the synthesis of mesoporous materials and their applications as electrodes and/or catalysts in solar cells, solar fuel production, rechargeable batteries, supercapacitors and fuel cells.

Mesoporous materials for energy conversion and storage devices

We review recent works on the synthesis and application of poly(ionic liquid)s (PILs). Novel chemical structures, different synthetic strategies and controllable morphologies are introduced as a supplement to PIL systems already reported. The primary properties determining applications, such as ionic conductivity, aqueous solubility, thermodynamic stability and electrochemical/chemical durability, are discussed. Furthermore, the near-term applications of PILs in multiple fields, such as their use in electrochemical energy materials, stimuli-responsive materials, carbon materials, and antimicrobial materials, in catalysis, in sensors, in absorption and in separation materials, as well as several special-interest applications, are described in detail. We also discuss the limitations of PIL applications, efforts to improve PIL physics, and likely future developments.

Frontiers in poly(ionic liquid)s: syntheses and applications

Dingcai Wu,*,† Fei Xu,† Bin Sun,† Ruowen Fu,† Hongkun He,‡ and Krzysztof Matyjaszewski*,‡ †Materials Science Institute, Key Laboratory for Polymeric Composite and Functional Materials of Ministry of Education, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, People's Republic of China ‡Department of Chemistry, Carnegie Mellon University, 4400 Fifth Avenue, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15213, United States

Design and Preparation of Porous Polymers

Multifunctionalization of microporous polymers is highly desirable but remains a significant challenge, considering that the current microporous polymers are generally hydrophobic and nonresponsive to different environmental stimuli and difficult to be carbonized without damage of their well-defined nanomorphology. Herein, we demonstrate a facile and versatile method to fabricate water-dispersible, pH/temperature responsive and readily carbonizable hairy microporous polymeric nanospheres based on combination of the hyper-cross-linking chemistry with the surface-initiated atom transfer radical polymerization (SI-ATRP). The hyper-cross-linking creates a highly microporous core, whereas the SI-ATRP provides diverse functionalities by surface grafting of hairy functional blocks. The as-prepared materials present multifunctional properties, including sensitive response to pH/temperature, high adsorption capacity toward adsorbates from aqueous solution, and valuable transformation into well-defined microporous ...

Water-Dispersible, Responsive, and Carbonizable Hairy Microporous Polymeric Nanospheres

Polyethylene glycol (PEG) is used to induce the self-assembly of phenol/formaldehyde (PF) resol and triblock copolymer Pluronic P123 by improving the interaction between the PF resol and P123, leading to the formation of a two-dimensional (2D) hexagonal ordered mesostructure. Ordered mesoporous polymers (OMPs) prepared by such a PEG-induced self-assembly method exhibit typical 2D hexagonal nanostructures with narrow pore size distribution. PEG may additionally act as a micropore-forming agent because of its thermal decomposition in this new synthetic approach, leading to the introduction of micropores into the polymeric framework. The resultant OMPs with rigid network frameworks can be directly transformed after a carbonization process into ordered mesoporous carbons. Furthermore, it is demonstrated that the as-obtained ordered mesoporous materials could have great potential applications as absorbents for organic vapors and electrodes in supercapacitors.

Bin Sun

Papers

Design and Preparation of Porous Polymers

Water-Dispersible, Responsive, and Carbonizable Hairy Microporous Polymeric Nanospheres

Polyethylene glycol-induced self-assembly to synthesize an ordered mesoporous polymer with a two-dimensional hexagonal structure

Chiral mesoporous carbon nanometer fiber and preparation method of chiral mesoporous carbon nanometer fiber