Self-assembly of block copolymers towards mesoporous materials for energy storage and conversion systems

Abstract

This paper reviews the progress in the field of block copolymer-templated mesoporous materials, including synthetic methods, morphological and pore size control and their potential applications in energy storage and conversion devices.

Revisiting anodic alumina templates: from fabrication to applications

“…Nevertheless, in this case, the drawbacks are that there is no ordering of the nanopores or control over their actual position, and also that an ion accelerator is needed to produce the tracks 72 . Other kinds of widely used nanoporous structures in current research, apart from AAOs, are porous polymers, such as block copolymers 73 or metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) 74 , which provide a high surface to volume ratio, but they also have limited thermal stability, with none of them able to work over 600º C 75 , and limited thickness of the achieved nanostructures. Also, the research on mesoporous silica 76 is quite relevant, but in this case, mostly silica nanoparticles (100 to 500 nm in diameter) with a porous surface (ranging from 2 to 50 nm in diameter) are employed, which gives rise to different architectures than those obtained with AAOs.…”

Single‐Atom and Dual‐Atom Electrocatalysts Derived from Metal Organic Frameworks: Current Progress and Perspectives

“…However, the low reserve, high cost, and poor stability of precious metals catalysts limit their commercial applications. Therefore, the investigation of high efficiency, low cost and stable noble metal‐free electrocatalysts is imperatively meaningful and transition metal‐based catalysts emerged owing to their moderate catalytic activity and tunable electronic structures to optimize the adsorption of intermediates during the reaction process [22–26] …”

“…Therefore, the investigation of high efficiency, low cost and stable noble metal-free electrocatalysts is imperatively meaningful and transition metal-based catalysts emerged owing to their moderate catalytic activity and tunable electronic structures to optimize the adsorption of intermediates during the reaction process. [22][23][24][25][26] Reducing the content of metals is a valid method to reduce the cost of transition metal-based electrocatalysts. In order to maintain the high activity of catalysts when the loading of metal is decreased, it is necessary to improve the utilization rate of metal atoms.…”

Nitrogen-Doped Mesoporous Carbon Microspheres by Spray Drying-Vapor Deposition for High-Performance Supercapacitor

“…Electric double layer capacitors (EDLCs), a typical type of supercapacitors, are appealing power sources for consumer electronics and uninterruptible power supplies owing to their high power density, rapid charge/discharge, environmental friendliness, and long cycling life (Simon and Gogotsi, 2008 , 2020 ; Choi et al, 2012 ; Wang et al, 2012 ; Liu et al, 2019 , 2020 ; Noori et al, 2019 ; Li et al, 2020 ). Porous carbon materials have attracted tremendous attention as electrode materials for supercapacitors because of their high specific surface area, high conductivity, high chemical stability and tunable porous structures (Zhai et al, 2011 ; Tian et al, 2016 , 2018 ; Hou et al, 2018 ; Wang et al, 2018 ; Liu et al, 2019 ; Shao et al, 2020 ).…”

“…The partially inaccessible small micropores also decreased the rate performance of microporous carbon (Zhang and Zhao, 2009 ). In the past decades, mesoporous carbon materials with pore sizes of 2–50 nm have become promising candidates for EDLC applications (Simon and Gogotsi, 2008 , 2020 ; Zhai et al, 2011 ; Choi et al, 2012 ; Wang et al, 2012 , 2018 ; Tian et al, 2016 , 2018 ; Hou et al, 2018 ; Liu et al, 2019 , 2020 ; Noori et al, 2019 ; Li et al, 2020 ; Shao et al, 2020 ). Huang et al ( 2008 ) demonstrated that the capacitance normalized by surface area was higher in mesoporous carbon compared to microporous carbon in aqueous solutions, suggesting a high capacitance can be achieved in carbon materials with high mesoporous surface area.…”