Metal-based mesoporous frameworks as high-performance platforms in energy storage and conversion

Abstract

With the drastically growing demand of energy consumption, the energy conversion and storage technology are of great importance for future sustainable development, where the utilized active materials play a crucial role. Owing to the highly accessible surface area, large pore size, tunable pore architecture, and crystalline scaffolds for desirable access to active sites, efficient mass transfer, and unique intrinsic functionality, metal-based mesoporous materials afford to provide ample opportunities for a variety of applications within the realm of storing and converting energy. However, a systematic overview of recent progress and challenges of metal-based mesoporous materials is still lack. This review discusses the reasonable synthesis, unique structure, and a series of energy applications of metal-based mesoporous materials. After presenting basic principles and latest examples, the main methods of regulating metal-based mesoporous materials are concluded. Subsequently, the cutting-edge metal-based mesoporous materials, such as metals, metal oxides, carbides, and nitrides, are introduced elaborately. We further showcase the latest examples of metal mesostructures in high-performance batteries, capacitors and electrocatalysis. This review ends with the unaddressed problems of metal-based mesoporous materials and the future application prospects within the domain of energy storage and conversion, highlighting the pathway toward developing advanced functional materials.