Covalent triazine frameworks (CTFs) drive innovative advances in rechargeable metal-ion batteries: a review

In the field of energy storage technology, the organic electrodes, separators, and electrolytes have unique advantages over inorganic materials, such as low cost, environmental friendliness, and a wide range of applications. Due to the advantages of organics such as light elements, abundant reserves, and recyclability, they have become favorable candidate materials for solving the energy storage problems caused by the fossil energy crisis. In recent years, as a high-performance branch of covalent organic frameworks, covalent triazine structures (CTFs) have attracted great interest due to their applications in electrochemical energy storage. CTFs have gradually become excellent organic materials for metal-ion batteries applications due to their large specific surface area, nitrogen richness, customizable structural features, and electron donor-acceptor/conductive parts. However, the relatively poor conductivity of the triazine ring in the main structure and the harsh polycondensation conditions limit its commercial application. To overcome these challenges, many effective strategies have emerged in terms of structural optimization, functional construction, and triazine-based composites. This review summarizes in detail the synthesis methods and applications of CTFs cathodes, electrolytes, and separators in the past decade. It is found that for CTFs, large-scale synthesis methods and performance regulation strategies have reached a bottleneck. It is hoped that the systematic summary of this review will provide strategic screening and prospects for the further expansion of CTFs research in next-generation batteries.