Polydopamine-inspired nanomaterials for energy conversion and storage

The development of renewable energy technologies is currently of global concern and calls for the exploration of novel functional materials. During the past decade, bioinspired polydopamine (PDA) has drawn tremendous attention in the advanced materials field. In this review, we provide an overall view of emerging PDA-inspired materials for energy conversion and storage applications. The peculiar advantages of PDA in the elaboration of desired functional materials are highlighted. We focus on the fabrication strategies used for PDA-based materials and their cutting-edge applications as electrocatalysts for oxygen-, hydrogen- and CO2- involving energy conversion reactions and electrode materials for lithium-ion batteries, lithium-sulfur batteries and sodium-ion batteries. The rational tailoring of structures and atomic level molecular design of PDA-based materials for specific functions are particularly demonstrated by a range of examples. © The Royal Society of Chemistry.