Shining Light on Porous Liquids: From Fundamentals to Syntheses, Applications and Future Challenges

Porous liquids (PLs), an emerging type of flowing liquid materials that combine the merits of porous solids and flowing liquids, have garnered immense attention since the concept of PLs was proposed in 2007. Meanwhile, PLs have witnessed growing success in versatile synthesis strategies and emerging applications, especially since 2017. Given the lack of a timely comprehensive review, developing a prompt summary with a comprehensive understanding is undoubtedly urgent. Thus, this critical review offers a comprehensive summary of the progress in fundamental chemistry, developmental history, synthetic strategies, and emerging applications of PLs. First, the fundamental chemistry and developmental history are reviewed. Then, the synthesis strategies of PLs are highlighted. Additionally, crosscutting studies of pure theoretical simulations are reviewed. Meanwhile, the daunting characterization issues of PLs are analyzed. Next, the state-of-the-art of PLs applications is reviewed in detail. In the end, perspectives regarding the remaining challenges and future directions for PLs are presented. It is speculated that this critical comprehensive review of PLs could inspire scientific communities who focus on the task-specific materials for various applications, such as gas sorption, membrane separation, catalytic conversion, chiral separation, thermal management and electrolyte, and so on.