This review provides an up-to-date summary of the progress of organic quinones as electroactive materials for advanced electrochemical energy storage devices.

We reported an example of metal-organic framework (MOF)-based porous liquid by dispersing ZIF-8 ({Zn(mim)}, mim = 2-methylimidazole) nanocrystallites in ionic liquid (IL) of [Bpy][NTf] ( N-butyl pyridinium bis(trifluoromethyl sulfonyl)imide). Two essential challenges, stable colloid formation and porosity retention, have been overcome to prepare MOF-based porous liquid. Preventing ZIF-8 nanocrystals from aggregation before dispersing is vital to form a stable ZIF-8 colloid in IL via enhancing the interaction between ZIF-8 and IL. The resultant ZIF-8-[Bpy][NTf] colloid is able to be stable over months without precipitating. [Bpy][NTf] with larger ion sizes cannot occupy pores in ZIF-8, leaving the ZIF-8 cage empty for enabling access by guest molecules. The porosity of this porous liquid system was verified by positron (e) annihilation lifetime spectroscopy and I adsorption in ZIF-8 in the colloid. MOF-based porous liquids could provide a new material platform for liquid-bed-based gas separations.

A new series of polynuclear superalkali cations YLi(3)(+) (Y = CO(3), SO(3), SO(4), O(4), and O(5)) has been created when the central group is surrounded by alkali atoms. The structural characteristics and stabilities of these systems are provided on the basis of ab initio methods. In the lowest-energy structure of the CO(3)Li(3)(+), SO(3)Li(3)(+), and SO(4)Li(3)(+) cations, the central Y (Y = CO(3), SO(3), and SO(4)) group features a slight distortion. The global minima of O(4)Li(3)(+) and O(5)Li(3)(+) are of the forms O(2)(-)(Li(+))(3)O(2)(-) and O(2)(-)(Li(+))(3)O(3)(-), respectively, both of which contain two monovalent ion units. The structural integrity of the central Y group and the arrangement of the lithium ligands are two influencing factors on the vertical electron affinities (EA(vert)) for the YLi(3)(+) species. The YLi(3)(+) cation, with its lithium ligands being distributed evenly or far from each other, tends to exhibit a low EA(vert) value, whereas a greater extent of cleavage of the central Y group leads to a higher EA(vert) value and even makes some species lose their superalkali nature.