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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