O-containing hyper-cross-linked polymers and porous carbons for CO2 capture

The O-containing hyper-cross-linked polymers were synthesized from phenol (2-naphthol) and formaldehyde dimethyl acetal by a simple one-step Friedel-Crafts reaction, they were subsequently carbonized using KOH as the activating agent, and their adsorption to CO2 was carefully tested. The results indicated that these samples had a high Brunauer-Emmett-Teller surface area (up to 2241 m(2)/g), pore volume (up to 1.20 cm(3)/g), CO2 uptake (up to 6.3 mmol/g at 273 K and 1.0 bar), and CO2/N-2 selectivity (up to 96 for the HCPs, and 22.5 for the porous carbon). In particular, the CO2 adsorption was highly dependent on the ultramicropore volume (pore width < 0.7 nm), while the CO2/N-2 selectivity mainly relied on the oxygen content and the ultramicropore structure.