  The past decade has witnessed the rapid progress in synthesizing nanoporous
organic networks or polymer frameworks for various potential applications.
Generally speaking, functionalization of porous networks to add extra
properties and enhance materials performance could be achieved either during
the pore formation (thus a concurrent approach) or post-synthetic modification
(a sequential approach). Nanoporous organic networks which include ion pairs in
a covalent manner are of special importance and possess extreme application
profiles. Within these nanoporous ionic organic networks (NIONs), here with a
pore size in the range from sub-1 nm to 100 nm, we observe a synergistic
coupling of the electrostatic interaction of charges, the nanoconfinement
within pores and the addressable functional units in soft matter resulting in a
wide variety of functions and applications, above all catalysis, energy storage
and conversion, as well as environmental operations. This review aims to
highlight the recent progress in this area, and seeks to raise original
perspectives that will stimulate future advancements at both the fundamental
and applied level.
