Pure porous polymers promise cleaners and energy solutions

A group of researchers at Tohoku University has developed a method for synthesizing special types of polymers with applications to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

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Porous organic polymers (POPs) are like sponges. Their high porosity allows them to absorb harmful contaminants such as carbon dioxide (CO2). It also boasts high thermal and chemical stability and pops the possibility of being applied to a wide range of fields, including gas separation and energy storage.

Previously, POPs were synthesized via oxidation reactions using metal salts as oxidants or bonding reactions using organometallic catalysts. However, these oxidants and catalysts usually remain as metal impurities within the pores of pops, decompose their porosity and overall utility. It’s like trying to clean a dish with an already dirty sponge.

To avoid this, you need a way to produce a very pure (squeaky clean) pop without any remaining impurities.

A group of researchers at Tohoku University has developed a method of synthesizing pop using iodine as an oxidant to minimize residual impurities.

They found that iodine and iodine-derived impurities were completely removed by washing them with ethanol after synthesis, and a very pure pop (polytriphenylamine derivative) without residual impurities can be obtained normally. The resulting POPs showed the highest specific surface area of ​​the reported POPs containing triphnylamine.

“As expected, reducing impurities improves porosity and improves performance of measurements such as CO2 adsorption capabilities,” explains Okabe (Tohoku University).

“In addition, they have shown their inherent features for the first time, such as the conductivity of protons and the unique gas adsorption behavior with gate-initiated phenomenon, which is exciting as it demonstrates the potential for new applications of Pops as fuel cells and assorbents.”

This new discovery shows that synthesis of very pure pops allows for the realization and development of organic materials with intrinsic functionality. As greenhouse gas emissions continue to become an issue, researching innovative and effective solutions such as Pops continues to become an important effort for researchers.