A simplified prototype device of high‐performance all‐solid‐state supercapacitors (ASSSs) based on 3D nitrogen and boron co‐doped monolithic graphene aerogels (BN‐GAs) is demonstrated for the first time. The resulting ASSSs show high specific capacitance, good rate capability, and enhanced energy density or power density.

Covalent organic frameworks are a class of crystalline organic porous materials that can utilize π–π-stacking interactions as a driving force for the crystallization of polygonal sheets to form layered frameworks and ordered pores. However, typical examples are chemically unstable and lack intrasheet π-conjugation, thereby significantly limiting their applications. Here we report a chemically stable, electronically conjugated organic framework with topologically designed wire frameworks and open nanochannels, in which the π conjugation-spans the two-dimensional sheets. Our framework permits inborn periodic ordering of conjugated chains in all three dimensions and exhibits a striking combination of properties: chemical stability, extended π-delocalization, ability to host guest molecules and hole mobility. We show that the π-conjugated organic framework is useful for high on-off ratio photoswitches and photovoltaic cells. Therefore, this strategy may constitute a step towards realizing ordered semiconducting porous materials for innovations based on two-dimensionally extended π systems.

Graphene, an individual two-dimensional, atomically thick sheet of graphite composed of a hexagonal network of sp(2) carbon atoms, has been intensively investigated since its first isolation in 2004, which was based on repeated peeling of highly oriented pyrolyzed graphite (HOPG). The extraordinary electronic, thermal, and mechanical properties of graphene make it a promising candidate for practical applications in electronics, sensing, catalysis, energy storage, conversion, etc. Both the theoretical and experimental studies proved that the properties of graphene are mainly dependent on their geometric structures. Precise control over graphene synthesis is therefore crucial for probing their fundamental physical properties and introduction in promising applications. In this Minireview, we highlight the recent progress that has led to the successful chemical synthesis of graphene with a range of different sizes and chemical compositions based on both top-down and bottom-up strategies.

The molecular design of light-harvesting antennae requires not only the segregation of a large number of chromophore units in a confined nanospace but also the cooperation of these units in achieving highly efficient energy transduction. This article describes the synthesis and functions of a polyphenylene-based conjugated microporous polymer (PP-CMP). PP-CMP was recently designed and synthesized by Suzuki polycondensation reaction and used as an antenna for the noncovalent construction of a light-harvesting system. In contrast to linear polyphenylene, PP-CMP consists of conjugated three-dimensional polyphenylene scaffolds and holds inherent porous structure with uniform pore size (1.56 nm) and large surface area (1083 m(2) g(-1)). It emits blue photoluminescence, is capable of excitation energy migration over the framework, and enables rapid transportation of charge carrier with intrinsic mobility as high as 0.04 cm(2) V(-1) s(-1). The microporous structure of PP-CMP allows for the spatial confinement of energy-accepting coumarin 6 molecules in the pores and makes the high-throughput synthesis of light-harvesting systems with designable donor-acceptor compositions possible. Excitation of the PP-CMP skeleton leads to brilliant green emission from coumarin 6, with an intensity 21-fold as high as that upon direct excitation of coumarin 6 itself, while the fluorescence from PP-CMP itself is wholly quenched as a result of energy transfer from the light-harvesting PP-CMP framework to coumarin 6. The PP-CMP skeleton is highly cooperative, with an average of 176 phenylene units working together to channel the excitation energy to one coumarin 6 molecule, and features the energy-transfer process with quick, efficient, and vectorial character. These unique characteristics clearly originate from the conjugated porous structure and demonstrate the usefulness of CMPs in the exploration of pi-electronic functions, in addition to their gas adsorption properties thus far reported.

The narrowest armchair graphene nanoribbon (AGNR) with five carbons across the width of the GNR (5-AGNR) was synthesized on Au(111) surfaces via sequential dehalogenation processes in a mild condition by using 1,4,5,8-tetrabromonaphthalene as the molecular precursor. Gold-organic hybrids were observed by using high-resolution scanning tunneling microscopy and considered as intermediate states upon AGNR formation. Scanning tunneling spectroscopy reveals an unexpectedly large band gap of Δ = 2.8 ± 0.1 eV on Au(111) surface which can be interpreted by the hybridization of the surface states and the molecular states of the 5-AGNR.

This article describes the synthesis and functions of a porous catalytic framework based on conjugated micro- and mesoporous polymers with metalloporphyrin building blocks (FeP-CMP). FeP-CMP was newly synthesized via a Suzuki polycondensation reaction and was developed as a heterogeneous catalyst for the activation of molecular oxygen to convert sulfide to sulfoxide under ambient temperature and pressure. FeP-CMP is intriguing because the polymer skeleton itself is built from catalytic moieties and serves as built-in catalysts, bears inherent open nanometer-scale pores that are accessible for substrates, and possesses large surface areas (1270 m(2) g(-1)) that facilitate the transformation reaction. It is highly efficient with high conversion (up to 99%) and a large turnover number (TON = 97,320), is widely applicable to various sulfides covering from aromatic to alkyl and cyclic substrates, displays high selectivity (up to 99%) to form corresponding sulfoxides, and is highly chemoselective for the oxidation of a sulfide group even in the coexistence of other oxidative functionalities. Owing to the covalent linkages between catalytic sites in the frameworks, FeP-CMP can be recycled with good retention of its porous structure and allows for large-scale transformation. These unique characteristics clearly originate from the covalent porous catalytic framework structure and demonstrate the usefulness of CMPs in the exploration of built-in heterogeneous catalysts, a new potential of these materials that have thus far been reported to exhibit noteworthy gas adsorption functions.

A cobalt-nitrogen-doped porous carbon that exhibits a ribbon-shape morphology, high surface area, mesoporous structure, and high nitrogen and cobalt content is fabricated for high-performance self-supported oxygen reduction electrocatalytsts through template-free pyrolysis of cobalt porphyrin-based conjugated mesoporous polymer frameworks.

Co-condensation of metallophthalocyanine with an electron-deficient benzothiadiazole (BTDA) block leads to the formation of a two-dimensional covalent organic framework (2D-NiPc-BTDA COF) that assumes a belt shape and consists of AA stacking of 2D polymer sheets. Integration of BTDA blocks at the edges of a tetragonal metallophthalocyanine COF causes drastic changes in the carrier-transport mode and a switch from a hole-transporting skeleton to an electron-transporting framework. 2D-NiPc-BTDA COF exhibits broad and enhanced absorbance up to 1000 nm, shows panchromatic photoconductivity, is highly sensitive to near-infrared photons, and has excellent electron mobility as high as 0.6 cm(2) V(-1) s(-1).