Recent advances in porous organic cages for energy applications

Abstract

In recent years, the energy and environmental crises have attracted more and more attention. It is very important to develop new materials and technologies for energy storage and conversion. In particular, it is crucial to develop carriers that store energy or promote mass and electron transport. Emerging porous organic cages (POCs) are very suitable for this purpose because they have inherent advantages including structural designability, porosity, multifunction and post-synthetic modification. POC-based materials, such as pristine POCs, POC composites and POC derivatives also exhibit excellent energy-related properties. This latest perspective provides an overview of the progress of POC-based materials in energy storage and conversion applications, including photocatalysis, electrocatalysis (CO₂RR, NO₃RR, ORR, HER and OER), separation (gas separation and liquid separation), batteries (lithium–sulfur, lithium-ion and perovskite solar batteries) and proton conductivity, highlighting the unique advantages of POC-based materials in various forms. Finally, we summarize the current advances, challenges and further perspectives of POC-based materials in energy applications. This perspective will promote the design and synthesis of next-generation POC-based materials for energy applications.