(598d) Direct Access to Functional Porous Materials for Energy Conversion and Storage

Multifunctional and hierarchical porous materials have attracted much attention as host electrode materials for electrochemical energy conversion and storages. Our research group has developed powerful methods to control multiscale porous inorganic nanostructurs via simple “one-pot method” by employing blends of block copolymers and homopolymers. The new approach allows access to a high degree of control over pore structure and size, particle shape, particle size and chemical composition including metal oxides, metal nitride and conductive carbon. Multiscale porous materials have been employed as a multifunctional sulfur host, integrating the advantages of multiscale porous architectures with high performance electrocatalytic property to achieve high-power and long-life lithium-sulfur batteries. A new and intuitive strategy for tuning and enhancing the kinetic activity of Fe-N₄ sites was designed by controlling electro-withdrawing/donating properties of carbon plane. Fe-N₄ integrated mesoporous materials showed a high catalytic performance comparable to that of Pt/C in anion exchange membrane (AEM) fuel cells.