A Cationic Polymerization Strategy To Design Sulfonated Micro-Mesoporous Polymers As Efficient Adsorbents For Ammonia Capture And Separation

Ammonia (NH3) is a corrosive, harmful, but very important chemical, and selective capture and separation of NH3 are crucial for its safe utilization. Herein, we designed a class of micro-mesoporous organic polymers functionalized with a sulfonic group (MPOP-x-SO3H) by a fast, template-free cationic polymerization of divinylbenzene (DVB) at ambient temperature, and H2SO4 as both the initiator and sulfonation agent was introduced. The resultant MPOP-x-SO3H possesses large BET surface areas (275-630 m(2)/g), abundant micro-mesoporosity, superior hydrophobicity, and enhanced acidity with tunable contents (0.32-1.67 mmol/g). As a result, MPOP-x-SO3H can reversibly capture and separate low-concentrated NH3 from a N-2/H-2/NH3 mixed gas, and its performances are superior to many reported NH3 adsorbents, which finds applications in removing leaked or undesired NH3 in industrial processes. Micro-mesoporous polymers decorated with other functional groups (pyridine, imidazole, and metal nanoclusters) could also be designed by the template-free cationic polymerization strategy.