Triptycene based microporous hypercrosslinked polymer with amino functionality for selective CO2 capture

The increasing CO2 concentration in the atmosphere contributes significantly to global warming, necessitating effective capture techniques. Though amine-based solvents are commonly used, they have drawbacks like high energy consumption and corrosion. Physical adsorption using microporous sorbents with polar groups emerges as a promising alternative, offering high efficiency and selectivity for CO2 capture. This work presents the design of a new microporous hypercrosslinked polymer with amino groups derived from the 3D molecular building block triptycene (TBMP-NH2), for CO2 capture applications. The triptycene unit in the polymer backbone provides high surface area, thermal stability, and microporosity. TBMP-NH2 demonstrates excellent thermal stability (T-d > 350 degrees C), considerable microporosity, and a high BET-specific surface area of 866 m(2)/g, making it a promising microporous adsorbent. It exhibits a high CO2 adsorption capacity of 1.86 mmol/g at 273 K and 1.23 mmol/g at 298 K, with a Q(st) value of 33.95 kJ/mol, indicating a physisorption mechanism where the micropore volume (V-mic = 0.359 cm(3)/g) plays a crucial role. TBMP-NH2 displays good CO2/N-2 and CO2/CH4 selectivity, outperforming several reported porous polymers. Owing to its high physiochemical and thermal properties, and efficient and selective CO2 capture ability, TBMP-NH2 can be considered a promising material for CO2 capture and environmental remediation application.