Covalent Organic Frameworks in Aqueous Zinc‐Ion Batteries

Abstract

The development and utilization of green renewable energy are imperative with the aggravation of environmental pollution and energy crisis. In recent years, the exploration of electrochemical energy storage systems has gradually become a research hotspot in energy. Among them, aqueous zinc ion batteries (ZIBs) have progressively developed into highly competitive and efficient energy storage devices owing to their inherent safety, natural abundance, and higher theoretical capacity. However, the practical application of ZIBs suffers from the limitation of challenges such as the absence of proper cathode materials and the unavoidable zinc dendrites and side reactions of Zn anode. Covalent organic frameworks (COFs) are an attractive class of electrode materials due to their inherent advantages, like structural designability, high stability, and ordered‐open channels, bestowing them with great potential to overcome the problems of ZIBs. In this review, we concentrate on the discussion of designed strategies of COFs applied to ZIBs. Furthermore, the methods of using COFs to solve the challenging problems of cathode development, anode modification, and electrolyte optimization for ZIBs are summarized. Finally, the existing difficulties, solution measures, and prospects of COFs for ZIBs applications are discussed. Our commentary hopes to serve as a valuable reference for developing COFs‐based ZIBs.

Recent advances in zinc-ion dehydration strategies for optimized Zn–metal batteries

“…222–227 MOFs and COFs, as popular materials with porous frameworks, possess a designable channel size and adjustable chemical properties, which are regarded as promising candidates for the construction of advanced pre-desolvation layers. 228–230 Their ordered channel with appropriate size can exclude the coordinated H 2 O around Zn 2+ , and this effect can be enhanced by selecting functional groups as zincophilic sites, such as –OH, –SO 3 H, –COOH, –NH 2 , –CF 3 , –PO 3 H and CO.…”