Fossil fuels constitute the primary source of energy today. While they are energy dense and reliable, they have taken a massive toll on the environment. Both the extraction and combustion of fossil fuels emit harmful greenhouse gases, most prominently, carbon dioxide, which is believed to be the main cause of climate change and global warming. Nuclear energy is considered as one of the most prominent alternative to fossil fuels given its high energy density and low carbon footprint. However, exhaust fumes coming off nuclear power plants contain high percentage of radioactive materials such as 129I and 131I isotopes that have half-lives of about 8 days and 15.7 million years, respectively, and thus impose major environmental and health concerns. As a result, there is a great need to develop novel materials that are capable to capture and store iodine vapor before its release into the atmosphere. Porous organic polymers (POPs), made of covalently bonded-light atoms such as C, N, O, and S, are considered one of the most promising iodine sorbents given their high surface areas, remarkable thermal and chemical stabilities, and tunable functionality. In this work, we report on the synthesis and characterization of two nitrogen-rich, highly porous organic polymers, NRPOP-1 (SABET = 544 m2 g-1) and NRPOP-2 (SABET = 424 m2 g-1). The two polymers display high iodine uptake (up to 281 wt. %) and able to release more than 98 % of the loaded iodine when immersed in polar organic solvent at room temperature. The exceptional performance of these polymers in iodine removal ranks among the best of POPs and makes them very promising materials in solving a major environmental concern.

Nanoporous organic polymers for revisable capture of radioactive-volatile iodine

Macromolecular Chemistry: The Second Century

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ACS Spring 2020 National Meeting & Expo

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.