Postmodification of linear poly-p-phenylenes to prepare hyper-crosslinked polymers: Tuning the surface areas by the molecular weight

• HCPs have been prepared by superacid-catalyzed polymerization and post-crosslinking.
• Tune the specific surface area of HCPs by the Mn of the linear polymer precursor.
• The effect of linear polymers' Mn on the HCPs' surface area was studied in detail.

Microporous, hyper-crosslinked poly-p-phenylenes have been prepared by combination of superacid-catalyzed polymerization and then crosslinking with external crosslinkers, e.g. tetrachloromethane (CCl4) and dimethoxymethane (DMM). The porosity property can be tuned by changing the molecular weight of the linear poly-p-phenylenes. With the increase of linear polymer molecular weight, the surface areas increase fleetly and then decrease. The highest surface area is 1019 m2/g, for HCP-9-DMM. The effect of solvent amount on HCPs' surface area was also studied. Moreover, the CO2 storage capacity of these materials was tested, where HCP-9-DMM shows the highest CO2 adsorption capacity of 93 mg/g.

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