Conjugated microporous polymers as efficient electrode materials for supercapacitors: Recent progress and challenges

Driven by increasing global energy demands and the escalating impact of climate change, the development of renewable, cost-effective, and sustainable energy storage technologies has become an urgent priority. Electrochemical supercapacitors (SCs) have emerged as attractive energy storage devices owing to their rapid charge–discharge capability, long operational lifetime, high power density, and environmentally benign characteristics. In this context, conjugated microporous polymers (CMPs) are rapidly gaining attention as outstanding polymeric materials with broad applicability, particularly in energy storage, where their intrinsic porosity, π-conjugated frameworks, and structural tunability offer unique advantages. Recent advances further demonstrate that CMPs can function not only as electrode materials but also as multifunctional electrolytes or electrolyte components in SCs, where their ion-conducting pathways, redox activity, and confinement effects enhance capacitance, rate performance, cycling stability, and operational voltage windows. In this review, we comprehensively summarize recent progress in CMP-based energy storage materials, with a particular focus on their applications in SCs. Key design strategies—including synthetic approaches, post-synthetic functionalization, reaction mechanisms, and structure–property–performance relationships—are systematically discussed to provide a framework for rational material optimization. A comparative analysis between CMPs and linear conjugated polymers is also presented to elucidate the advantages and limitations of porous conjugated architectures. Furthermore, the critical challenges associated with CMP-based SCs, such as conductivity, active-site utilization, volumetric performance, and pore accessibility, are examined alongside emerging strategies to overcome these limitations. This review aims to serve as a comprehensive and insightful reference for researchers and to inspire the future development of advanced CMP-based materials for high-performance energy storage technologies.