Hypercrosslinked polymers with hierarchical pores synthesised using biphenyl crosslinker for carbon dioxide capture

Microporous hypercrosslinked polymers have an upright capacity to develop into prime materials in energy and environmental applications in the near future. The chemical tunability, structural robustness and high surface area are some of the critical factors that lead to their application in the gas adsorption area. Three novel hypercrosslinked porous polymers viz. PABMC, PFBMC and PPzBMC were synthesized via the Friedel-Crafts alkylation process using 4,4′-bis(chloromethyl)biphenyl as the external cross-linker and anhydrous FeCl3 as the catalyst. The polymers obtained are found to be microporous with very high surface areas of 983 m2/g, 1002 m2/g, and 1265 m2/g, respectively, for PABMC, PFBMC and PPzBMC. The polymers PABMC, PFBMC and PPzBMC exhibited appreciable carbon dioxide uptake of 10.18 wt%, 12.02 wt% and 14.18 wt%, respectively, at 273 K. The results reveal a practical approach to synthesizing low-cost heteroatom-rich hypercrosslinked organic polymers with hierarchical pores for gas adsorption and storage applications.