Defect Engineering of Carbons for Energy Conversion and Storage Applications

Abstract

Sustainable energy conversion and storage technologies are a vital prerequisite for neutral future carbon. To this end, carbon materials with attractive features, such as tunable pore architecture, good electrical conductivity, outstanding physicochemical stability, abundant resource, and low cost, have used as promising electrode materials for energy conversion and storage. Defect engineering could modulate the structures of carbon materials, thereby affecting their electronic properties. The presence of defects on carbons may lead to asymmetric charge distribution, change in geometrical configuration, and distortion of the electronic structure that may result in unexpected electrochemical performances. In this review, recent advances in defects of carbons used for energy conversion and storage were examined in terms of types, regulation strategies, and fine characterization means of defects. The applications of such carbons in supercapacitors, rechargeable batteries, and electrocatalysis were also discussed. The perspectives toward the development of defect engineering carbons were proposed. In all, novel insights related to improvement in high‐performance carbon materials for future energy conversion and storage applications were provided.