Inorganic Cyanogels and Their Derivatives for Electrochemical Energy Storage and Conversion

Nanostructured gels have emerged as a unique material platform for various applications such as energy storage and catalysis thanks to the tunable composition and structure, porous framework for mass transfer, and ease of synthesis and functionalization. Recently, cyanogels and their derivatives have aroused considerable research interests owing to their high composition tunability, large surface area, and hierarchical porosity for charge and mass transport, which contribute to the high performance when applied to energy storage and conversion devices. This Perspective highlights the key features of cyanogels and their derivatives toward electrochemical-energy-related applications, summarizes the synthesis and functionalization of cyanogels, discusses recent advances in material design and synthetic routes of various cyanogel-derived functional nanomaterials in energy-related applications, and proposes future directions for their scientific and technological development.