Carbazole-Bearing Porous Organic Polymers with a Mulberry-Like Morphology for Efficient Iodine Capture

Three kinds of carbazole-based porous organic polymers were successfully prepared via simple Friedel Crafts alkylation of 1,3,5-tri(9-carbazolyl)-benzene. External cross-linking agents named 1,4-bis(chloromethyl)-benzene, cyanuric chloride, and 1,4-dimethoxybenzene were selected, and the derived polymers (denoted as CSU-CPOPs-1, CSU-CPOPs-2, and CSU-CPOPs-3) gave high surface areas (up to 1032 m(2)/g) and good stability. Interestingly, varying the nature of knitting agents led to an unprecedented morphology evolution, and it is worth noting that a mulberry-like morphology was observed for the case of 1,4-bis(chloromethyl)-benzene. Taking advantage of the unique mulberry-like morphology as well as abundant porosity, CSU-CPOPs-1 showed ultrahigh iodine vapor adsorption performance with a capacity of 494 wt % at 348 K and 1 bar, which is the highest value reported to date for amorphous polymers. This study presented a feasible way to develop efficient iodine sorbents with tunable morphologies for addressing environmental issues.