Hydrogels and Hydrogel-Derived Materials for Energy and Water Sustainability

作者：Youhong Guo, Jiwoong Bae, Zhiwei Fang, Panpan Li, Fei Zhao, Guihua Yu · 发表于：Chemical Reviews · 年份：2020 · DOI：10.1021/acs.chemrev.0c00345 · 被引用次数：1385 · 研究领域：Solar-Powered Water Purification Methods、Supercapacitor Materials and Fabrication、Advanced Sensor and Energy Harvesting Materials

Energy and water are of fundamental importance for our modern society, and advanced technologies on sustainable energy storage and conversion as well as water resource management are in the focus of intensive research worldwide. Beyond their traditional biological applications, hydrogels are emerging as an appealing materials platform for energy- and water-related applications owing to their attractive and tailorable physiochemical properties. In this review, we highlight the highly tunable synthesis of various hydrogels, involving key synthetic elements such as monomer/polymer building blocks, cross-linkers, and functional additives, and discuss how hydrogels can be employed as precursors and templates for architecting three-dimensional frameworks of electrochemically active materials. We then present an in-depth discussion of the structure-property relationships of hydrogel materials based on fundamental gelation chemistry, ultimately targeting properties such as enhanced ionic/electronic conductivities, mechanical strength, flexibility, stimuli-responsiveness, and desirable swelling behavior. The unique interconnected porous structures of hydrogels enable fast charge/mass transport while offering large surface areas, and the polymer-water interactions can be regulated to achieve desirable water retention, absorption, and evaporation within hydrogels. Such structure-derived properties are also intimately coordinated to realize multifunctionality and stability for different ...