Nanoporous ionic organic networks: from synthesis to materials applications

TL;DR

This review discusses recent advances in nanoporous ionic organic networks (NIONs), emphasizing their synthesis, functionalization, and diverse applications in catalysis, energy, and environmental fields, highlighting their unique charge interactions and nanoconfinement effects.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of NIONs, focusing on their synthesis methods, functionalization strategies, and potential applications, offering new perspectives for future research.

Findings

NIONs exhibit diverse applications in catalysis, energy storage, and environmental remediation.

Functionalization during or after synthesis enhances NION properties.

Synergistic effects of electrostatic interactions and nanoconfinement enable multifunctionality.

Abstract

The past decade has witnessed the rapid progress in synthesizing nanoporous organic networks or polymer frameworks for various potential applications. Generally speaking, functionalization of porous networks to add extra properties and enhance materials performance could be achieved either during the pore formation (thus a concurrent approach) or post-synthetic modification (a sequential approach). Nanoporous organic networks which include ion pairs in a covalent manner are of special importance and possess extreme application profiles. Within these nanoporous ionic organic networks (NIONs), here with a pore size in the range from sub-1 nm to 100 nm, we observe a synergistic coupling of the electrostatic interaction of charges, the nanoconfinement within pores and the addressable functional units in soft matter resulting in a wide variety of functions and applications, above all catalysis, energy storage and conversion, as well as environmental operations. This review aims to highlight the recent progress in this area, and seeks to raise original perspectives that will stimulate future advancements at both the fundamental and applied level.