Construction of conjugated scaffolds driven by mechanochemistry towards energy storage applications

Mechanochemistry has been recognized as an efficient and sustainable methodology to provide a unique driven force and reaction environments under ambient and neat conditions for the construction of functionalized materials possessing promising properties. Among them, highly porous conjugated scaffolds with attractive electronic conductivities and high surface areas are one of the representative categories exhibiting diverse task-specific applications, especially in electrochemical energy storage. In recent years, the mechanochemistry-driven procedures have been deployed to construct conjugated scaffolds with engineered structures and properties leveraging the tunability in chemical structures of building blocks and polymerization capability of diverse catalysts. Therefore, a thorough review of related works is required to gain an in-depth understanding of the mechanochemical synthesis procedure and property-performance relationship of the as-produced conjugated scaffolds. Herein, the mechanochemistry-driven construction of conjugated porous networks (CPNs), the carbon-based materials (e.g., graphite and graphyne), and carbon supported single atom catalysts (CS-SACs) are discussed and summarized. The electrochemical performance of the afforded conductive scaffolds as electrode materials in supercapacitors and alkali-ion batteries is elucidated. Finally, the challenges and potential opportunities related to the construction of conjugated scaffolds driven by mechanochemistry are also discussed and concluded.