Post-synthetic modification of fluorenone based hypercrosslinked porous copolymers for carbon dioxide capture

Abstract

The synthesis of fluorenone based hypercrosslinked porous copolymers using biphenyl and naphthalene as co-monomers is reported as effective materials for carbon dioxide capture applications. We have also successfully synthesized porous hypercrosslinked copolymers with a tunable surface affinity towards CO2 by the incorporation of amine groups on the parent polymers via post-synthetic modification. These polymers were found to have high thermal and chemical stability. Even though they are having only moderate surface areas, these materials are found to have reasonably good CO2 capture ability. Fluorenone-naphthalene based amine-incorporated hypercrosslinked copolymer (PFNCA) with a poor surface area of only 22 ​m2/g and a total pore volume of only 0.046 ​cm3/g exhibits an appreciably high CO2 uptake of 8.17 ​wt%. Hence the synthesized hypercrosslinked porous copolymers can be projected as prospective solid sorbents in carbon dioxide sequestration systems.