Recent advances of covalent organic frameworks in electronic and optical applications

Covalent organic frameworks (COFs) as an emerging class of porous materials have achieved remarkable progress in recent years. Their high surface area, low mass densities, highly ordered periodic structures, and ease of functionalization make COFs exhibit superior potential in gas storage and separation, optoelectronic device and catalysis. This mini review gives a brief introduction of COFs and highlights their applications in electronic and optical fields.     

Nonlinear Optical Switching in Regioregular Porphyrin Covalent Organic Frameworks

Covalent organic frameworks (COFs) have garnered immense scientific interest among porous materials because of their structural tunability and diverse properties. However, the response of such materials toward laser‐induced nonlinear optical (NLO) applications is hardly understood and demands prompt attention. Three novel regioregular porphyrin (Por)‐based porous COFs—Por‐COF‐HH and its dual metalated congeners Por‐COF‐ZnCu and Por‐COF‐ZnNi—have been prepared and present excellent NLO properties. Notably, intensity‐dependent NLO switching behavior was observed for these Por‐COFs, which is highly desirable for optical switching and optical limiting devices. Moreover, the efficient π‐conjugation and charge‐transfer transition in ZnCu‐Por‐COF enabled a high nonlinear absorption coefficient (β=4470 cm/GW) and figure of merit (FOM=σ₁/σ_o, 3565) value compared to other state‐of‐the‐art materials, including molecular porphyrins (β≈100–400 cm/GW), metal–organic frameworks (MOFs; β≈0.3–0.5 cm/GW), and graphene (β=900 cm/GW).     

Applications of covalent organic frameworks (COFs):From gas storage and separation to drug delivery

Covalent organic frameworks (COFs) are an emerging class of porous covalent organic structures whose backbones were composed of light elements (B, C, N, O, Si) and linked by robust covalent bonds to endow such material with desirable properties, i.e., inherent porosity, well-defined pore aperture, ordered channel structure, large surface area, high stability, and multi-dimension. As expected, the above-mentioned properties of COFs broaden the applications of this class of materials in various fields such as gas storage and separation, catalysis, optoelectronics, sensing, small molecules adsorption, and drug delivery. In this review, we outlined the synthesis of COFs and highlighted their applications ranging from the initial gas storage and separation to drug delivery.     

Two-dimensional porphyrin- and phthalocyanine-based covalent organic frameworks

Covalent organic frameworks (COFs) represent an emerging class of porous crystalline materials and have recently shown interesting applications from catalysis to optoelectronic devices. In this review, by covering most of the reported work, we summarized the research progress of two-dimensional (2D) porphyrin- and phthalocyanine-based COFs, with highlighting the synthesis of these 2D COFs via various dynamic covalent reactions and emphasizing their potential applications in different areas.     

共价有机框架材料研究进展

共价有机框架材料是一类具有周期性和结晶性的有机多孔聚合物。共价有机框架材料由轻质元素通过共价键连接,拥有较低的密度、高的热稳定性以及固有的多孔性,在气体吸附、非均相催化、能量存储等研究领域有着广泛的应用潜力,引起了科学界强烈的研究兴趣。本文主要综述了近年来共价有机框架材料的最新研究进展,包括其结构设计、合成、纯化、表征以及在气体吸附,催化及光电等方面的应用,并对共价有机框架材料未来的发展趋势进行了展望。     

卟啉共价有机框架化合物的研究进展

共价有机框架化合物(COFs)是一类新兴的具有多孔结构的晶态有机聚合物,在储存与分离、催化、能量转化等领域具有广泛应用。本文介绍了一类基于卟啉单元的COFs,从框架构筑及应用开发两方面综述了这类材料的研究进展。     

Covalent organic frameworks

Covalent organic frameworks (COFs) are a class of crystalline porous polymers that allow the atomically precise integration of organic units to create predesigned skeletons and nanopores. They have recently emerged as a new molecular platform for designing promising organic materials for gas storage, catalysis, and optoelectronic applications. The reversibility of dynamic covalent reactions, diversity of building blocks, and geometry retention are three key factors involved in the reticular design and synthesis of COFs. This tutorial review describes the basic design concepts, the recent synthetic advancements and structural studies, and the frontiers of functional exploration.     

Piezochromism in Dynamic Three-Dimensional Covalent Organic Frameworks

Piezochromic materials with pressure-dependent photoluminescence tuning properties are important in many fields, such as mechanical sensors, security papers, and storage devices. Covalent organic frameworks (COFs), as an emerging class of crystalline porous materials (CPMs) with structural dynamics and tunable photophysical properties, are suitable for designing piezochromic materials, but there are few related studies. Herein, we report two dynamic three-dimensional COFs based on aggregation-induced emission (AIE) or aggregation-caused quenching (ACQ) chromophores, termed JUC-635 and JUC-636 (JUC=Jilin University China), and for the first time, study their piezochromic behavior by diamond anvil cell technique. Due to the various luminescent groups, JUC-635 has completely different solvatochromism and molecular aggregation behavior in the solvents. More importantly, JUC-635 with AIE effect exhibits a sustained fluorescence upon pressure increase (≈3 GPa), and reversible sensitivity with high-contrast emission differences (Δλ_em=187 nm) up to 12 GPa, superior to other CPMs reported so far. Therefore, this study will open a new gate to expand the potential applications of COFs as exceptional piezochromic materials in pressure sensing, barcoding, and signal switching.     

Highly Flexible Dielectric Films from Solution Processable Covalent Organic Frameworks**

Covalent organic frameworks (COFs) are known to be a promising class of materials for a wide range of applications, yet their poor solution processability limits their utility in many areas. Here we report a pore engineering method using hydrophilic side chains to improve the processability of hydrazone and β-ketoenamine-linked COFs and the production of flexible, crystalline films. Mechanical measurements of the free-standing COF films of COF-PEO-3 (hydrazone-linked) and TFP-PEO-3 (β-ketoenamine-linked), revealed a Young's modulus of 391.7 MPa and 1034.7 MPa, respectively. The solubility and excellent mechanical properties enabled the use of these COFs in dielectric devices. Specifically, the TFP-PEO-3 film-based dielectric capacitors display simultaneously high dielectric constant and breakdown strength, resulting in a discharged energy density of 11.22 J cm⁻³. This work offers a general approach for producing solution processable COFs and mechanically flexible COF-based films, which hold great potential for use in energy storage and flexible electronics applications.     

Chiral covalent organic frameworks for asymmetric catalysis and chiral separation

Covalent organic frameworks (COFs), covalently assembled from the condensation reactions of organic building blocks, are a fascinating class of functional porous materials with two- or three-dimensional crystalline organic structures. Generally, it is preferable to use symmetric and rigid building blocks to construct highly crystalline COFs with desired topology. On the other hand, the incorporation of chiral functional moieties in the building blocks would open up new applications such as asymmetric catalysis and chiral separation. This mini review highlights the principle strategies in the design and synthesis of chiral COFs. The interesting and potential applications of these chiral COFs for asymmetric catalysis and chiral separation are also summarized. This mini review aims to provide an up-to-date advancement of chiral COFs for asymmetric catalysis and chiral separation.     

Covalent organic frameworks for applications in lithium batteries

With the stone energy increasingly dried up and the environment polluted severely, developing renewable clean energy is already in extreme urgency. Exploiting new energy storage and transformation systems has progressively become the focal point in the energy research field. Covalent organic frameworks (COFs) have attracted extensive attention as a new kind of crosslinked polymers owing to the high crystallinity, excellent porosity, and favorable stability. The last decade has witnessed the great progress in crystalline COFs for the application in various arenas. The tailor-made functional skeleton together with well-defined periodical alignment has endowed COFs with enormous potential in lithium batteries. In this review, we initially illustrated the design principle of COFs for the application in lithium batteries. Furthermore, we made a comprehensive summary of the fast-developing COFs field in terms of lithium batteries, including lithium ion and lithium sulfur batteries. Finally, we discussed the remaining challenges and perspectives in this area and also proposed several possible future directions of development for lithium batteries. It is expected that this short review would contribute to the development of COFs materials in energy-related applications.     

Two-dimensional Covalent Organic Frameworks for Electrochromic Switching

The electrochromic materials have received immense attention for the fabrication of smart optoelectronic devices. The alteration of the redox states of the electroactive functionalities results in the color change in response to electrochemical potential. Even though transition metal oxides, redox-active small organic molecules, conducting polymers, and metallopolymers are known for electrochromism, advanced materials demonstrating multicolor switching with fast response time and high durability are of increasing demand. Recently, two-dimensional covalent organic frameworks (2D COFs) have been demonstrated as electrochromic materials due to their tunable redox functionalities with highly ordered structure and large specific surface area facilitating fast ion transport. Herein, we have discussed the mechanistic insights of electrochromism in 2D COFs and their structure-property relationship in electrochromic performance. Furthermore, the state-of-the-art knowledge for developing the electrochromic 2D COFs and their potential application in next-generation display devices are highlighted.     

共价有机框架材料在光催化领域中的应用

共价有机框架(COFs)材料是有机构筑基元通过共价键连接而形成的晶态有机多孔材料. COFs具有孔道结构规整、 及比表面积高等特点, 被广泛地应用于气体储存与分离、 催化、 传感、 储能及光电转化等领域. 将具有可调吸光能力的有机构筑基元引入到COFs中, 可使其展现出强大的光催化潜力. 近年来, COFs在光催化领域中发展迅猛. 本文总结了COFs在光催化产氢、 光催化二氧化碳还原、 光催化有机反应以及光催化污染物降解等方面的研究进展, 并展望了其在光催化领域的应用前景.     

Construction of Covalent‐Organic Frameworks (COFs) from Amorphous Covalent Organic Polymers via Linkage Replacement

Covalent‐organic frameworks (COFs) as porous crystalline materials show promising potential applications. However, developing facile strategies for the construction of COFs directly from amorphous covalent organic polymers (COPs) is still a great challenge. To this end, we report a novel approach for easy preparation of COFs from amorphous COPs through the linkage replacement under different types of reactions. Four COFs with high crystallinity and porosity were constructed via the linkage substitution of polyimide‐linked COPs to imine‐linked COFs as well as imine‐linked COPs to polyimide‐linked COFs. The realization of the linkage substitution would significantly expand the research scope of COFs.     

Challenges and perspectives of covalent organic frameworks for advanced alkali-metal ion batteries

Covalent organic frameworks(COFs) are a class of porous crystalline polymers that have been widely investigated in various fields, including energy storage, photo/electrocatalysis, drug delivery. The covalent-bond interconnection allows COFs extraordinary chemical and thermal stability, and the porous structure ensures a high ion-diffusion coefficient. These merits compensate for the drawbacks of organic electrodes that are easy to dissolve and have low charge conductivity, and promote the development of novel electrode materials with excellent performance, environmental friendliness, and low price. However, the application of COFs also encountered many problems, such as poor electronic conductivity due to the large band gap. Moreover,in some three-dimensional(3D) COFs and stacked two-dimensional(2D) COFs, the huge crystal structure, aligned ultralong channels, and numerous crystal defects usually impede ion transport, and the large molecular weights of COFs generally decrease the specific capacities. These issues are urgently needed to be solved. Here in this review, we summarize the latest progress, core challenges and coping strategies concerning with the use of COFs in alkali-metal ion batteries, discuss the impact of material structure on energy storage, and propose strategies for the construction of high-performance COF-based electrodes.     

Thiophene-Based Covalent Organic Frameworks: Synthesis,Photophysics and Light-Driven Applications

Porous crystalline materials, such as covalent organic frameworks (COFs), have emerged as some of the most important materials over the last two decades due to their excellent physicochemical properties such as their large surface area and permanent, accessible porosity. On the other hand, thiophene derivatives are common versatile scaffolds in organic chemistry. Their outstanding electrical properties have boosted their use in different light-driven applications (photocatalysis, organic thin film transistors, photoelectrodes, organic photovoltaics, etc.), attracting much attention in the research community. Despite the great potential of both systems, porous COF materials based on thiophene monomers are scarce due to the inappropriate angle provided by the latter, which hinders its use as the building block of the former. To circumvent this drawback, researchers have engineered a number of thiophene derivatives that can form part of the COFs structure, while keeping their intrinsic properties. Hence, in the present minireview, we will disclose some of the most relevant thiophene-based COFs, highlighting their basic components (building units), spectroscopic properties and potential light-driven applications.     

Covalent Organic Frameworks with trans-Dimensionally Vinylene-linked π-Conjugated Motifs

Vinylene-linked covalent organic frameworks(COFs) are a class of promising porous organic materials that feature fully π-conjugated structures, high crystallinity, permanent porosity, ultrahigh chemical stability, and extraordinary optoelectronic properties. Over the past 5 years, this kind of material has been witnessed rapid development either in chemical synthesis or in potential applications. In this review, we summarize the chemistry to synthesize vinylene-linked COFs, especially the synthetic strategies involving activation of aryl methyl groups for condensation reaction. We then scrutinize the state-of-the-art development in properties and functions of this kind of COFs. Our own opinions on the further development of the vinylene-linked COFs are also presented for discussion.     

Recent Advances in Covalent Organic Frameworks for Catalysis

Covalent organic frameworks (COFs) as an emerging type of crystalline porous materials, have obtained considerable attention recently. They have exhibited diverse structure and attractive performance in various catalytic reactions. It is highly expected to have a systematic and comprehensive review summing up COFs‐derived catalysts in homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysis, which is favorable to the judicious design of an efficient catalyst for targeted reaction. Herein, we focus on summarizing recent and significant developments in COFs materials, with an emphasis on both the synthetic strategies and targeted functionalization, and categorize it in accordance with the different types of catalytic reactions. Their potential catalysis applications are reviewed thoroughly. Moreover, a personal view about the future development of COFs catalysts with respect to the large‐scale production is also discussed.     

共价有机骨架材料在分离科学中的研究进展

共价有机骨架(COFs)材料是一类由有机单体通过共价键连接而成的新型多功能结晶有机聚合物,具有比表面积大、热和化学稳定性好、结构和功能可控等优点,在气体存储、药物传递、传感和催化等方面有着广泛的应用。多样的结构和丰富的官能团也使COFs在分离科学中具有巨大的应用潜力。COFs及其复合材料作为吸附剂已被用于固相萃取、磁固相萃取、固相微萃取,以及气相色谱、高效液相色谱和毛细管电色谱的新型固定相。该文综述了近3年来COFs在分离科学中的最新进展,着重介绍了COFs在水介质、食品基质、生物样本等复杂基质中样品前处理和有机分子(包括手性和异构化合物)分离等方面的研究进展,为进一步研究COFs的应用提供参考。     

A Truxenone-based Covalent Organic Framework as an All-Solid-State Lithium-Ion Battery Cathode with High Capacity

All-solid-state lithium ion batteries (LIBs) are ideal for energy storage given their safety and long-term stability. However, there is a limited availability of viable electrode active materials. Herein, we report a truxenone-based covalent organic framework (COF-TRO) as cathode materials for all-solid-state LIBs. The high-density carbonyl groups combined with the ordered crystalline COF structure greatly facilitate lithium ion storage via reversible redox reactions. As a result, a high specific capacity of 268 mAh g⁻¹, almost 97.5 % of the calculated theoretical capacity was achieved. To the best of our knowledge, this is the highest capacity among all COF-based cathode materials for all-solid-state LIBs reported so far. Moreover, the excellent cycling stability (99.9 % capacity retention after 100 cycles at 0.1 C rate) shown by COF-TRO suggests such truxenone-based COFs have great potential in energy storage applications.